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OCT  l  7  1923 
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BV  1475  . S68 
Squires,  Walter  Albion. 
A  parish  program  of 
religious  education 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/parishprogramofrOOsqui 


A  Parish  Program  of 
Religious  Education 


Suggestions  for  a  Church  School  Designed  to  Carry  On  a  Unified  System  cf 


Religious  Education  Consisting  of  a  Program  of  Leadership  Train¬ 
ing,  a  Program  of  Cooperation  with  the  Home ,  and  a 
Central  Program  of  Information,  Worship 
and  Expression 


17  1923 


Walter  Albion  Squires,  B.  D. 


Director  of  Week  Day  Religious  Instruction 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School  Work 
Author  of ''The  Week  Day  Church  School,"  “ God  Revealing  IHs  Truth 
Through  Patriarch  and  Prophet,”  “ New  Testament  Followers  of  Jesus,”  etc. 


With  an  Introduction  by 

Harold  McA.  Robinson,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA 

The  Westminster  Press 
1923 


* 


Copyright,  1923 
by 

F.  M.  BRASELMAN 


i 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


rT'HIS  book  is  dedicated  to  the  Direc- 
tors  of  Religious  Education  in  the 
Protestant  Churches  of  America. 
Pioneers  in  a  calling  which  is  new  in 
our  day,  they  are  in  the  midst  of  a  move¬ 
ment  which  is  restoring  the  teaching 
ministry  of  the  early  Church  to  its  right¬ 
ful  place  in  the  Christian  program  of 
world  conquest.  Teachers  and  guides 
of  children  and  youth,  they  are  engaged 
in  a  work  an  archangel  might  desire. 
The  author  bids  them  godspeed. 


' 


i 


INTRODUCTION 


We  are  living  in  a  day  of  the  utmost  significance  for 
religious  education.  There  is  a  new  appreciation  of  the 
fundamental  importance  of  the  Christian  instruction  and 
training  of  the  children  and  youth.  Old  agencies  are 
being  overhauled.  New  agencies  are  being  created. 
Neglected  agencies  are  being  revivified.  On  every  hand 
there  is  progress.  That  very  progress  involves  new  prob¬ 
lems,  some  of  which  are  in  the  field  of  principle  and 
method  and  some  in  the  field  of  organization.  All  of  these 
new  problems  center  in  the  program  of  the  individual 
church. 

Mr.  Squires,  in  this  book,  has  discussed  the  old  problems 
and  the  new  problems  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  indi¬ 
vidual  church,  and  has  pointed  to  the  solution  of  these 
problems  in  the  creation  of  a  new  program  of  religious 
education  for  the  church,  which  shall  at  once  conserve  all 
that  is  valuable  in  the  old  program,  introduce  what 
appears  to  be  stable  and  valuable  in  the  new  develop¬ 
ments,  and  weld  all  the  elements  into  a  whole.  The  book 
will  well  repay  the  careful  study  of  pastors  and  other 
leaders  in  the  field  of  the  Christian  education  of  the 
children  and  youth  in  the  home,  the  church,  and  the 
community,  and  will  make  an  important  contribution  to 
the  effort  of  the  Church  to  take  advantage  of  its  unparal¬ 
leled  opportunity  to  formulate  and  put  into  action  a 
comprehensive  system  of  religious  education  such  as  the 
Church  in  America  has  never  had. 

Harold  McA.  Robinson. 

Philadelphia, 

February  23,  1923. 

6 


■ 


\ 


AUTHOR’S  PREFACE 


THIS  book  is  not  a  recital  of  the  author’s  theories  con¬ 
cerning  religious  education.  Every  suggestion  which 
it  contains  is  based  on  plans  in  successful  operation  in  at 
least  a  few  churches.  The  book  is  intended  to  be  a  clear¬ 
ing  house  for  the  “ best  things”  in  church  schools  as  they 
are  being  worked  out  in  various  churches  and  in  various 
sections  of  our  country.  The  only  claim  to  originality 
which  can  be  made  for  the  book  lies  in  the  fact  that  it 
undertakes  to  collect  these  best  methods  of  various 
churches  and  to  adjust  them  to  one  another  in  a  unified 
program  of  religious  education  for  the  individual  church. 

The  author  has  sought  to  make  his  discussion  construc¬ 
tively  critical  rather  than  destructively  critical.  He  has 
gone  on  the  theory  that  it  is  useless  and  presumptuous  to 
criticise  the  existing  educational  methods  of  the  Church 
unless  a  remedy  of  demonstrated  efficiency  can  be  pro¬ 
posed  forthwith. 

There  are  three  major  objectives  which  ought  to  be 
gained  by  church  leaders  before  they  undertake  to  in¬ 
augurate  a  new  and  adequate  program  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  for  the  individual  church  within  which  they  labor. 
In  the  first  place,  there  must  be  an  adequate  apprecia¬ 
tion  of  the  importance  of  religious  education  as  a  recruiting 
agency  for  the  Church  and  as  an  instrument  for  the 
establishment  of  God’s  Kingdom  on  earth.  The  fault 
with  many  churches  lies  just  at  this  point.  The  church 
has  an  inadequate  appreciation  of  the  place  and  power 
of  education  in  the  plans  of  God.  A  fundamental  failure 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  religious  education  lies  behind 
every  Sunday-school  program  which  is  carelessly  planned, 

7 


8 


AUTHOR’S  PREFACE 


supported  in  a  niggardly  way,  and  carried  on  in  a  slip¬ 
shod  fashion.  Easy-going,  loosely  conducted  educational 
methods  in  a  church  have  as  a  psychological  background 
the  feeling  that  education  is  a  matter  of  secondary  im¬ 
portance  in  the  Kingdom  enterprise,  and  that  it  does  not 
matter  much  how  the  church  school  is  carried  on.  All 
this  must  be  changed  before  a  larger  and  better  program 
of  education  for  the  individual  church  can  be  undertaken 
with  assurance  of  success.  The  church  constituency 
must  be  brought  to  see  the  sublime  opportunity  for 
building  GocFs  Kingdom  which  exists  in  the  young  and 
plastic  lives  of  the  children  and  youth  to  whom  the  church 
ministers.  Church  leaders  must  be  brought  to  the  place 
where  they  approach  the  educational  task  of  the  church 
with  that  religious  faith  and  zeal  which  says,  “This  task 
must  and  shall  be  done.  ” 

In  the  second  place,  the  constituency  of  the  church 
must  be  brought  to  a  realization  of  the  inadequacy  of 
the  customary  educational  agencies  of  the  church.  This 
step  is  apt  to  follow  automatically  when  the  first  step 
has  once  been  taken.  A  just  appreciation  of  the  im¬ 
portance  of  religious  education  leads  almost  inevitably 
to  a  sense  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  educational  program 
of  even  our  most  progressive  churches.  It  is  well  for 
church  leaders  to  make  these  inadequacies  specific, 
however,  and  so  to  clinch  them  that  they  will  become 
determining  factors  in  the  thinking  of  as  many  of  the 
church  people  as  possible.  Inadequacies  as  to  time, 
teaching  force,  housing,  lesson  materials,  and  superin¬ 
tendence  are  so  manifest  in  the  church  school  program 
that  people  can  hardly  help  seeing  them  if  they  are 
pointed  out.  No  church  will  be  able  to  put  on  a  new 
educational  program  if  the  prevailing  church  spirit  is 
expressed  in  the  phrase,  “The  old  program  is  good 
enough.” 


AUTHOR’S  PREFACE 


9 


In  the  third  place,  the  constituency  of  the  church 
must  be  brought  to  an  understanding  of  the  new  program 
which  is  proposed  and  to  a  conviction  of  its  superiority 
over  the  plans  and  methods  which  have  become  established 
and  familiar  within  the  church.  This  is  a  task  of  no  mean 
proportions.  The  constituency  of  a  church  may  have 
a  fairly  adequate  appreciation  of  the  importance  of 
religious  education  and  a  conviction  that  the  present 
educational  program  of  the  church  is  seriously  defective, 
and  yet  they  may  recoil  from  the  somewhat  revolutionary 
changes  necessary  for  putting  the  school  of  the  church 
on  a  right  basis.  The  Church  is  naturally  one  of  the 
most  conservative  of  institutions,  and  rightly  so;  never¬ 
theless,  unwise  conservatism  can  block,  as  almost  nothing 
else  can,  the  putting  on  of  an  efficient  educational  program 
within  a  church.  The  best  methods  of  overcoming  the 
difficulty  growing  out  of  a  spirit  of  ultraconservatism 
toward  all  undertakings  that  are  new,  is  found  to  be  the 
presentation  of  definite  and  reliable  statistics  as  to  what 
is  being  done  in  other  churches  employing  the  proposed 
new  methods. 

It  is  the  hope  of  the  author  that  this  volume  may  be 
of  some  little  service  in  helping  churches  to  take  these 
first  three  steps  toward  the  establishment  of  a  program 
of  education  which  will  be  worthy  of  the  calling  where¬ 
with  we  are  called.  It  has  been  written  with  the  constant 
conviction  that  the  educational  work  of  the  church  is  a 
matter  of  supreme  importance  to  the  nation,  to  the 
Church,  and  to  the  Kingdom  of  God,  for  the  coming  of 
which  the  Master  taught  us  to  pray.  It  has  been  written 
with  a  constant  realization  of  the  pathetic  inadequacy 
of  even  our  best  religious  educational  efforts.  It  has 
dared  to  set  up  new  goals,  goals  which  are  far  ahead, 
goals  yet  unattained  by  any  church  and  which  may  long 
be  considered  unattainable.  It  throws  out  a  challenge 


10 


AUTHOR’S  PREFACE 


to  the  Protestant  churches  of  America  believing  that 
some  of  them  will  arise  and  attempt  greater  things  for 
God  than  have  been  undertaken  heretofore. 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  his  indebtedness 
to  the  several  members  of  the  Educational  Staff  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Publication  and  Sabbath  School 
Work.  In  undertaking  to  write  a  book  covering  the  whole 
educational  task  of  the  individual  church  the  author  has 
transgressed  within  the  special  field  of  educational  ac¬ 
tivity  of  each  of  his  colleagues  in  the  membership  of  the 
Staff.  They  have  graciously  permitted  him  to  use  the 
results  of  their  investigations  and  their  experiences, 
but,  of  course,  the  author  assumes  entire  responsibility 
for  the  positions  taken.  Special  acknowledgments  are 
due  to  Dr.  Harold  Me  A.  Robinson  and  to  Mr.  Walter 
D.  Howell  who  have  read  the  manuscript  for  this  volume 
and  have  contributed  valuable  suggestions.  The  main 
features  of  the  plan  suggested  in  the  book  have  been  used 
in  his  work  with  churches  by  Rev.  David  H.  Craver, 
Field  Representative  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publi¬ 
cation  and  Sabbath  School  Work  in  New  York.  He  has 
consented  to  their  incorporation  within  the  present  volume 
and  has  offered  other  helpful  suggestions. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  May  20,  1923. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Introduction . 

Author’s  Preface . 

1  Historical  Background . . . 

II  The  Individual  Church  as  an  Educational  Agency . 

III  The  New  Program  Which  Is  Coming  into  View . 

IV  New  Standards  Needed . 

V  Organizing  the  Foundations . 

VI  Setting  up  the  Necessary  Administrative  Machinery . 

VII  Choosing  and  Arranging  Curriculum  Materials . 

VIM  Recruiting  and  Training  the  Teaching  Force . 

IX  Providing  the  Physicial  Conditions  Necessary  for  Success¬ 
ful  Teaching . 

X  Establishing  Right  Relations  Between  the  Church  School 
and  Its  Constituency . 

XI  The  Central  Program  of  Information,  Worship,  and  Ex¬ 
pression . 

XII  The  Program  of  Cooperation  with  the  Home . 

XIII  The  Program  of  Leadership  Training . 


5 
7 
13 
27 
45^ 
59  " 
73^ 
91  ^ 
105 
119 

133 

147 

161 

179 

191 


XIV  The  Relation  of  the  Individual  Church  School  to  Other 

Educational  Agencies . 203 


XV  Checking  Up  the  Results . 215 

XVI  A  Thousand-Point  Standard  for  a  Church  School  Which 
Carries  on  a  Unified  Educational  Program  for  an  Indi¬ 
vidual  Church . 227 


CHAPTER  I 

Historical  Background 


CHAPTER  I 
Historical  Background 

PEOPLE  who  are  engaged  in  any  important  under¬ 
taking  need  to  know  the  history  of  the  enterprise 
to  which  they  have  attached  themselves.  If  statesmen 
are  to  guide  a  nation  wisely,  they  must  know  the  history 
of  their  own  country  and  be  familiar  with  the  records  of 
other  lands.  The  history  of  education  has  long  been 
regarded  as  an  essential  part  of  a  normal-school  curriculum. 
We  have  been  slow  to  recognize  the  fact  that  historical 
knowledge  is  just  as  helpful  to  the  religious  educator  as 
it  is  to  the  statesman  or  the  public-school  teacher.  A 
knowledge  of  religious  educational  history  will  do  great 
things  for  the  leaders  of  the  church  school.  It  will  help 
them  to  understand  the  present  situation.  It  will  make 
them  safely  progressive  because,  it  will  show  them  that 
religious  education,  like  all  other  living  things,  is  under¬ 
going  constant  development,  if  it  is  in  a  normal  state  of 
health.  The  history  of  religious  education  has  curative 
values  for  the  nonprogressive  church-school  worker  who 
insists  that  the  methods  of  his  forefathers  are  good 
enough  for  him.  It  will  show  him  that  changing  condi¬ 
tions  have  ever  demanded  changing  methods.  The 
history  of  religious  education  likewise  lays  restraining 
hands  upon  the  religious  educator  who  is  inclined  to  be 
an  iconoclast.  It  shows  him  that  many  of  the  methods 
he  longs  to  smash  have  been  attained  through  toilsome 
experimentation,  and  that  they  have  a  record  which 
demands  for  them  a  respectful  treatment. 

The  religious  educational  history  of  our  country  falls 
naturally  into  five  periods,  or  epochs.  By  becoming 

15  ^ 


16 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


familiar  with  these  epochs  we  provide  ourselves  with  an 
outline  of  the  whole  religious  educational  development  of 
our  country.  Such  a  scheme  gives  us  a  framework  into 
which  we  can  fit  the  various  items  of  information  which 
we  gather  from  time  to  time  concerning  the  development 
of  religious  education  in  America.  These  epochs  will 
now  be  considered  in  order. 

Epoch  I.  The  union  of  secular  and  religious  edu¬ 
cation.  1620-1787.  The  religious  educational  history  of 
our  country  begins  with  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at 
Plymouth.  There  had  been  a  few  settlements  within 
the  present  borders  of  the  United  States  before  the 
Pilgrims  set  foot  on  Plymouth  Rock,  but  these  settle¬ 
ments  were  for  the  most  part  made  up  of  men  who  were 
adventurers,  seeking  their  fortunes  in  the  New  World 
and  expecting  when  rich  to  return  to  their  former  homes 
in  Europe.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers  came  as  a  group  of 
families  seeking  a  permanent  abiding  place.  It  has  been 
said  that  the  Pilgrims  came  to  America  seeking  religious 
freedom.  It  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  they 
came  seeking  an  opportunity  to  give  their  children  the 
kind  of  religious  education  they  desired  that  their  offspring 
should  receive.  The  Pilgrims  had  religious  freedom  in 
Holland,  but  their  children  were  surrounded  by  evil 
influences  and  they  determined  to  go  to  new  lands  where 
they  could  not  only  give  to  their  children  that  religious 
instruction  which  they  held  so  dear,  but  could  likewise 
control  the  environment  in  the  midst  of  which  their 
children  must  grow  to  manhood  and  womanhood. 

From  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  until  the  adoption  of 
the  American  Constitution  in  1787,  there  was  scarcely 
any  differentiation  between  secular  and  religious  educa¬ 
tion.  In  those  days  if  a  child  received  any  schooling  at 
all  he  received  religious  instruction.  The  Bible  was  the 
major  textbook.  Even  when  other  textbooks  began  to 


HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 


17 


be  introduced,  they  were  made  up  largely  of  Bible  selec¬ 
tions.  This  truth  is  illustrated  by  the  New  England 
Primer,  which  made  its  appearance  during  this  period. 
The  New  England  Primer  consisted  of  simple  Bible 
passages  and  little  rhymes  which  expressed  the  theological 
views  of  the  Puritan  peoples.  The  colonial  child  had  for 
his  first  reading  lesson  a  Bible  verse  or  some  such  couplet 
as 

“In  Adam’s  fall, 

We  sinned  all.” 

Those  were  pioneer  days,  but  it  is  well  for  us  to  ponder 
the  fact  that  the  children  of  these  little  struggling  settle¬ 
ments  on  the  Atlantic  coast  received  more  religious  in¬ 
struction  than  we  are  giving  the  children  in  our  pros¬ 
perous  land  to-day. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  period  the  secularization  of 
education  had  begun  and  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  having  been  made  complete  under  the  Constitu¬ 
tion,  the  process  of  differentiation  between  secular  educa¬ 
tion  and  religious  education  became  the  dominant  charac¬ 
teristic  of  the  next  epoch. 

Epoch  II.  The  secularization  of  education  in 
America.  1787-1847.  During  this  period  the  various 
states  were  engaged  in  taking  over  the  educational  task. 
This  period  saw  the  rise  of  the  present  public-school 
system  of  America.  It  was  the  age  of  Horace  Mann, 
David  P.  Page,  and.  Thomas  Barnard,  the  period  during 
which  these  educators  addressed  themselves  to  the  task 
of  rearing  an  efficient  educational  system  which  would 
make  an  elementary  education  the  heritage  of  every  child 
in  America. 

As  the  states  took  over  the  educational  task,  the  Bible 
began  to  drop  out  of  the  curriculum  of  the  schools.  That 
process  has  gone  on  until  the  present  day.  We  have 
now  only  scattered  remnants  of  the  once  universal  use 


18 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


of  the  Bible  in  the  schools.  A  few  states  still  require 
the  Bible  to  be  read  in  the  public  schools.  Other  states 
permit  it  to  be  read,  provided  no  comments  are  made  on 
its  contents.  Still  others  forbid  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
in  public  schools.  As  the  Bible  was  discarded,  religious 
instruction  went  with  it,  and  to  a  certain  extent  moral  in¬ 
struction  likewise,  for  there  can  be  no  efficient  moral 
instruction  which  does  not  reach  down  to  the  deep  re¬ 
ligious  capacities  of  the  soul. 

This  secularization  of  public-school  education  was  in 
a  measure  necessary,  because  we  are  building  in  America 
a  new  type  of  democracy  in  which  people  of  all  religious 
faiths  shall  have  equality  and  justice;  but  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  we  have  not  overdone  the  matter. 
States  which  have  declared  the  Bible  to  be  a  sectarian 
book  and  have  excluded  it  from  the  libraries  of  the  schools 
have  certainly  done  so. 

As  this  process  of  secularization  went  on,  there  were 
people  of  vision  who  saw  the  danger.  When  the  public- 
school  system  of  New  York  State  was  being  set  up,  pro¬ 
vision  was  made  for  the  dismission  of  the  children  from 
the  public  schools  for  a  certain  period  every  week  that 
they  mijht  be  given  religious  instruction  in  the  churches. 
The  provision  seems  never  to  have  been  used.  It  was 
lost  for  many  decades  and  has  just  come  to  light  through 
the  efforts  of  Church  people  in  that  state  to  secure  public- 
school  time  for  week-day  religious  instruction. 

Church  leaders  were  slow  to  see  the  importance  and 
the  magnitude  of  the  task  which  the  secularization  of 
education  was  thrusting  upon  them.  Some  churches 
fought  the  Sunday  school  stubbornly  because  they  re¬ 
garded  it  as  a  dangerous  innovation.  It  was  a  ringing 
challenge  to  the  Protestant  Church  to  take  up  its  educa¬ 
tional  task  that  marked  the  close  of  this  period.  The 
challenge  was  contained  in  a  little  pamphlet  by  Horace 


HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 


19 


Bushnell,  which  appeared  in  1847.  This  pamphlet 
afterward  grew  into  the  book  which  we  know  as  “  Christian 
Nurture.” 

Epoch  III.  The  spread  of  the  Sunday-school 
movement.  1847-1886.  Sunday  schools  had  been  es¬ 
tablished  in  considerable  numbers  before  the  year  1847, 
but  it  was  during  the  years  immediately  after  that  date 
that  the  greatest  development  of  the  Sunday-school 
movement  took  place.  The  goal  of  religious  educational 
leaders  of  the  period  was  to  establish  a  Sunday  school  in 
every  church  in  America.  Local,  county,  and  state 
associations  came  into  existence.  The  International 
Sunday  School  Association  was  formed.  The  movement 
reached  its  climax  in  the  organization  of  the  World’s 
Sunday  School  Association  in  1886. 

The  leaders  of  the  period  did  their  work  well.  At  the 
close  of  the  epoch  there  were  comparatively  few  churches 
which  were  without  Sunday  schools.  At  least  one  sect- 
in  the  South  developed  such  a  stubborn  resistance  to 
the  Sunday-school  movement  that  it  is  largely  without 
religious  educational  agencies  to  the  present  day.  It  is 
a  denomination  that  is  doomed  to  disappear  unless  it 
repents  speedily  and  takes  steps  looking  toward  an  ade¬ 
quate  program  of  religious  education  for  its  children  and 
youth.  There  are  churches  in  the  denomination  we 
have  mentioned  which  have  received  no  more  than  three 
new  members  in  some  thirty-five  years. 

The  effort  to  extend  the  Sunday-school  movement  did 
not  come  to  an  end  in  1886.  It  is  still  going  on.  Hun¬ 
dreds  of  Sunday-school  missionaries  are  at  work  planting 
new  schools  in  the  neglected  sections  of  our  country. 
The  great  task  of  putting  Sunday  schools  into  foreign 
countries  has  hardly  more  than  begun.  Nevertheless 
after  1886  the  primary  religious  educational  activity  in 
America  was  of  another  kind. 


20 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


The  period  which  we  have  been  considering  saw  the 
beginning  of  several  important  religious  educational 
agencies  which  were  outside  of  the  Sunday  school  and 
largely  outside  of  denominational  control.  In  1881  the 
first  Christian  Endeavor  society  was  formed  in  Portland, 
Maine.  There  was  such  a  need  for  expressional  work 
in  the  religious  educational  program  that  the  Christian 
Endeavor  movement  had  a  phenomenal  growth.  It 
soon  spread  to  all  the  different  parts  of  the  Unites  States 
and  to  many  foreign  lands.  During  the  next  two  epochs 
into  which  we  have  divided  the  religious  educational 
history  of  America,  expressional  organizations  which 
like  the  Christian  Endeavor  movement  are  either  inter¬ 
denominational  or  extradenominational  multiplied  rapidly. 
The  problem  of  adjusting  the  various  educational  programs 
of  these  organizations  to  the  educational  program  of  the 
individual  church  is  one  of  the  large  problems  of  our  day 
and  a  problem  with  which  this  book  is  concerned. 

Epoch  IV.  A  period  of  Sunday-school  improve¬ 
ment.  1886-1901.  When  the  task  of  putting  a  Sunday 
school  into  every  church  of  America  was  approximately 
completed,  leaders  of  religious  education  turned  their 
efforts  toward  Sunday-school  improvement.  This  is 
the  period  during  which  we  first  hear  of  graded  lessons, 
departmental  organization,  organized  classes,  workers’ 
conferences,  teacher-training,  and  other  efforts  to  bring 
Sunday  schools  up  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency.  Some  of 
these  efforts  at  improvement  had  been  made  here  and  there 
before  this  period  began,  but  they  had  not  taken  hold  of  the 
life  of  the  Church  until  the  effort  to  spread  the  Sunday- 
school  movement  over  America  had  approximately 
attained  its  goal.  The  dominant  aim  of  the  period  was 
to  make  the  Sunday  school  the  efficient  educational 
agency  of  the  Church.  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  goal 
has  been  even  approximately  attained.  There  is  much 


HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 


21 


to  do  before  the  Sunday  school  becomes  the  efficient 
agency  for  the  whole  educational  task  of  the  Church. 
Indeed,  most  leaders  of  religious  education  have  come  to 
believe  that  it  never  can  become  such.  Its  limitations 
as  to  available  time  are  too  great.  The  habits  of  the 
American  people  are  such  that  an  adequate  religious 
instruction  for  all  the  children  of  the  land  could  hardly 
be  secured  in  a  school  on  Sunday,  even  if  enough  time 
were  available.  Hence  many  religious  educators,  while 
still  emphasizing  the  need  for  Sunday-school  improve¬ 
ment,  have  come  to  believe  that  Sunday-school  instruc¬ 
tion  must  be  supplemented  by  other  religious  educational 
agencies  holding  sessions  on  week  days.  The  coming  of 
this  idea  to  the  fore  marks  the  beginning  of  the  epoch  of 
religious  education  in  which  we  are  now  living. 

Epoch  V.  Attempts  to  supplement  and  unify 
the  educational  program.  1901  to  the  present.  In 
1901  the  first  daily  vacation  Bible  school  was  formed  in 
New  York  City.  A  few  years  later  week-day  church 
schools  began  to  appear  here  and  there  in  various  cities 
of  the  nation.  Community  training  schools  for  teachers 
of  religion  began  to  multiply.  These  undertakings  were 
signs  that  a  new  era  of  religious  education  was  beginning. 
They  indicated  that  the  idea  of  supplementing  and 
strengthening  the  Sunday  school  was  taking  hold  of  the 
Church  people  of  the  country. 

The  World  War  served  to  accelerate  and  strengthen  the 
movement  for  a  larger  and  more  efficient  program  of 
religious  education  which  was  well  under  way  when  that 
conflict  began.  Nations  were  rudely  awakened  to  the 
fundamental  place  of  education  in  the  life  of  any  people. 
The  inadequacy  of  any  system  of  education  which  does 
not  build  the  fife  of  individuals  on  a  fundamentally 
religious  basis  was  revealed.  Extensive  surveys  among 
the  soldiers,  and  after  the  war  in  various  states  of  the 


22 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Union,  made  it  plain  that  the  educational  efforts  of 
Protestant  churches  had  resulted  in  practical  failure. 
Not  half  of  the  children  of  the  country  were  being  reached 
by  the  educational  agencies  of  the  Church,  and  of  those 
enrolled  in  church  schools  less  than  half  were  brought 
into  a  lasting  connection  with  the  life  and  organization 
of  any  religious  body.  Our  religious  educational  agencies 
were  shown  to  be  less  than  twenty-five  per  cent  efficient. 

When  we  consider  such  facts  as  have  been  stated,  it 
does  not  seem  strange  that  the  Church  is  addressing 
herself  anew  to  her  fundamental  task  of  training  child¬ 
hood  and  youth  in  religious  ideas,  religious  attitudes, 
and  religious  activities.  The  only  puzzling  element  in 
the  situation  is  found  in  the  fact  that  many  churches 
have  not  yet  become  aware  that  anything  is  taking  place, 
they  are  content  with  conditions  as  they  are. 

To  a  certain  extent,  the  movement  for  a  larger  and 
better  program  of  religious  education  had  its  beginning 
outside  of  distinctly  Church  circles  and  the  movement  is 
still  largely  independent  of  official  Church  control  and 
ecclesiastic  propagation.  It  has  come  up  out  of  the  life 
of  the  people  rather  than  out  of  any  plans  conceived  and 
put  into  operation  by  denominational  or  interdenomina¬ 
tional  religious  educational  agencies.  Judges  of  juvenile 
courts  have  been  appalled  by  the  constantly  increasing 
stream  of  youthful  offenders  brought  before  them.  They 
have  summoned  both  Church  and  State  to  find  a  remedy 
for  the  moral  malady  which  is  smiting  American  youth. 
They  have  said  to  Churchmen,  “If  you  do  not  find  a  way 
to  reach  the  children  of  America,  and  if  you  can  find  no 
methods  for  grounding  them  in  religion  and  morality, 
the  state  must  take  over  the  task  in  the  interests  of 
self-preservation.”  Business  men  have  noted  the  clouds 
which  are  gathering  on  the  horizons  of  our  civilization 
and  they  have  turned  preacher  prophets,  warning  us 


HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 


23 


that  unless  our  economic  and  international  relationships 
can  be  brought  into  harmony  with  the  principles  of 
Jesus,  disasters  are  ahead.  Settlement  workers  have 
grappled  with  the  problems  of  our  great  cities,  and  more 
and  more  they  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
no  solution  of  our  problems  except  in  a  program  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  more  extensive  and  efficient  than  any¬ 
thing  we  have  ever  known. 

The  religious  educational  awakening  of  the  past  few 
years  has  manifested  itself  in  many  rapid  changes  in 
church  programs  of  teaching.  The  daily  vacation  Bible 
school  has  been  introduced  into  many  communities. 
During  a  single  year  the  number  of  cities  and  towns 
carrying  on  week-day  church  schools  grew  from  fifty  to 
more  than  two  hundred,  thus  increasing  the  number  of 
communities  engaged  in  the  enterprise  by  fourfold.  New 
lesson  courses  are  appearing.  Colleges  and  theological 
seminaries  are  organizing  departments  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion. 

This  somewhat  rapid  advance  of  the  movement  has 
produced  new  problems.  The  addition  of  supplementary 
educational  agencies  to  the  available  force  has  intensified 
the  problem  of  correlation.  The  big  problem  before 
religious  educational  leaders  just  now  is  not  only  the 
creation  of  supplemental  agencies  but  also  their  proper 
adjustment  to  agencies  already  in  the  field. 

Some  Lessons  from  the  History  of  Religious  Edu¬ 
cation  in  America 

This  brief  survey  of  the  religious  educational  history 
of  our  country  suggests  some  lessons  of  value  to  all  who 
are  interested  in  the  religious  nurture  of  children  and 
youth. 

1.  There  has  been  a  constant  change  in  the  methods 


24 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


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HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 


of  religious  education  and  in  the  agencies  carrying  on 
this  task.  We  have  not  yet  reached  a  satisfactory  stop¬ 
ping  point,  but  must  go  on  until  we  secure  a  system  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  which  will  assure  a  true  and  efficient 
religious  nurture  for  all  the  children  and  young  people 
of  the  nation. 

2.  The  secularization  of  public  education  in  America 
threw  upon  the  churches  a  task  of  such  magnitude  and  of 
such  inherent  difficulty  that  the  churches  have  not  yet  ad¬ 
justed  themselves  to  the  task  so  as  to  accomplish  it  effici¬ 
ently.  The  problem  must  occupy  our  attention  until  a 
satisfactory  solution  is  found. 

3.  The  elimination  of  religious  instruction  from  the 
public  schools  made  necessary  a  system  of  church  schools 
in  every  way  equal  to  the  public  schools  in  their  efficiency 
as  educational  institutions  and  reaching  the  childhood  of 
the  nation  as  extensively  as  it  is  reached  by  the  public 
schools.  The  churches  have  failed  to  a  lamentable 
degree  in  both  requirements.  They  have  not  organized 
schools  comparable  with  the  public  schools  in  educational 
efficiency  and  they  have  not  reached  half  as  many  children 
as  the  public  schools  have  enrolled. 

4.  The  elimination  of  religious  instruction  from  the 
state-controlled  schools  which  most  of  the  children  of 
America  attend  has  put  the  states  under  obligation. 
They  are  in  duty  bound  to  cooperate  with  all  religious 
bodies  upon  which  the  vastly  important  phases  of  educa¬ 
tion  involved  in  religious  nurture  have  been  laid.  They 
must  not  monopolize  the  child’s  time  and  leave  to  the 
cooperating  agencies  in  the  educational  task  only  the 
fatigue  time  and  the  recreation  time  of  the  children. 

5.  If  states  maintain  an  attitude  of  antagonism  toward 
church  schools  they  will  defeat  their  own  aims,  for  there 
can  be  no  true  education  which  neglects  the  culture  of 
the  religious  instincts,  neither  is  there  safety  for  any  state 


i 


26 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


or  any  civilization  built  on  an  educational  foundation 
from  which  religion  has  been  eliminated. 

6.  We  have  found  no  way  of  giving  adequate  religious 
instruction  in  the  public  schools  and  it  seems  question¬ 
able  whether  this  can  be  done  without  seriously  disarrang¬ 
ing  the  fundamental  principles  on  which  our  nation  has 
been  erected. 

7.  For  the  religious  bodies  of  our  land  to  create  parochial 
schools  sufficient  to  care  for  their  children  would  entail 
an  enormous  expense  and  would  destroy  our  public-school 
system.  The  public  schools  are  the  corner  stone  of  our 
national  structure,  therefore,  an  extensive  system  of  paro¬ 
chial  schools  is  not  the  solution  of  our  problem. 

8.  The  solution  of  our  problems  evidently  lies  in  a 
twofold  school  system;  first  of  all,  a  public-school  system 
giving  to  all  the  children  of  America  that  fundamental 
educational  culture  in  mind  and  morals  which  makes  a 
foundation  for  good  citizenship;  and,  likewise,  a  church- 
school  system  reaching  all  the  children  of  America  with 
that  religious  nurture  which  is  even  more  necessary  for 
righteous  living  and  neighborliness  than  anything  the 
public  schools  under  our  system  of  government  can  teach. 

9.  The  creation  of  a  church-school  system  which  shall 
be  the  peer  of  our  splendid  public-school  system  is  the 
most  important  problem  of  our  land  to-day.  Three 
hundred  years  of  development  and  experimentation  have 
led  us  to  the  place  where  we  are  face  to  face  with  this 
problem.  We  cannot  longer  delay  an  earnest  effort  to 
solve  it. 

10.  Since  religious  instruction  is  an  indispensable  part 
of  any  right  educational  system  and  necessary  to  the 
maintenance  of  our  system  of  government,  all  good 
citizens  of  the  nation  ought  to  be  willing  to  support  the 
church  schools  as  generously  as  is  necessary  to  put  them 
on  an  equality  with  our  public  schools. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Individual  Church  as  an 
Educational  Agency 


f 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Individual  Church  as  an  Educational  Agency 

THE  preceding  chapter  led  up  to  a  general  view  of  the 
religious  educational  situation  in  our  country.  It 
closed  with  a  statement  of  an  important  task  which 
occupies,  or  ought  to  occupy,  first  place  in  the  thinking 
of  our  statesmen,  as  well  as  of  our  Churchmen.  The 
erection  of  a  system  of  religious  schools  which  shall  be 
in  every  way  equal  to  our  public  schools  in  matters  of 
efficiency,  which  shall  reach  all  the  children  of  the  nation, 
and  which  shall  banish  spiritual  illiteracy,  at  least  as 
effectively  as  our  public  schools  have  banished  intellectual 
illiteracy,  is  the  problem  evolved  out  of  three  hundred 
years  of  our  history.  The  problem  in  its  entirety  extends 
far  beyond  the  contemplated  bounds  of  this  volume. 
The  subject  matter  of  this  book  is  to  be  confined  to  an 
attempted  answer  to  the  question,  “Wlmt  must  the 
individual  church  do  in  order  to  discharge  its  share  of 
responsibility  for  such  a  system?”  As  a  first  step  toward 
an  answer  to  this  question,  we  ought  to  consider  the 
probable  place  of  the  individual  church  in  a  religious 
educational  system  such  as  we  have  seen  to  be  necessar3L 
A  second  step  would  be  a  survey  of  the  present  educational 
situation  within  the  typical  individual  church.  These 
two  matters  are  to  engage  our  attention  in  the  present 
chapter. 

Place  of  the  Individual  Church  in  a  National 
System  of  Religious  Education 

What  will  be  the  place  of  the  individual  church  in  a 
nation-wide  system  of  religious  education  which  shall 

29 


30 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


effectively  reach  all  the  children  of  the  land?  This  is  a 
question  which  outstanding  leaders  of  religious  education 
in  our  country  answer  in  widely  different  ways.  Their 
answers  are  something  more  than  mere  expressions  of  per¬ 
sonal  opinion,  for  they  indicate  the  methods  which  these 
respective  leaders  are  using,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to 
use,  as  they  strive  toward  the  goal  which  is  common  to  all. 
At  least  three  types  of  answers  have  been  given. 

1.  A  community  program  independent  of  denom¬ 
inational  and  individual  church  control.  There  are 
those  who  hold  that  we  shall  arrive  at  a  nation-wide  and 
efficient  program  of  religious  education  if  we  organize 
on  the  basis  of  communities  and  keep  our  organizations 
free  from  both  denominational  and  individual  church 
participation  of  any  official  kind.  They  insist  that  the 
system  must  rest  on  a  basis  that  is,  as  we  may  say,  extra- 
denominational  and  wholly  independent  of  the  individual 
churches.  Those  who  advocate  this  plan  admit  that  in 
religious  matters  we  have  no  such  uniformity  of  com¬ 
munity  life  and  consciousness  as  is  often  the  case  with 
regard  to  other  interests.  They  realize  that  in  many 
places  the  community  considered  with  regard  to  the 
religious  preferences  of  its  constituency,  must  needs  be  a 
threefold,  or  a  fourfold  entity.  There  will  be  a  Protestant 
community,  a  Roman  Catholic  community,  a  Jewish 
community,  and  perhaps  a  community  which  is  anti- 
religious  and  unwilling  to  align  itself  with  any  of  the 
groups  named.  Hence  the  building  of  a  religious  educa¬ 
tional  program  on  a  community  basis  is  an  undertaking 
inherently  difficult.  What  the  advocates  of  this  plan 
really  have  in  mind  is  a  Protestant  community  system  of 
religious  education,  a  Roman  Catholic  community  sys¬ 
tem  of  religious  education,  and  a  Jewish  community 
system  of  religious  education  cooperating  so  far  as  possible 
in  the  same  locality. 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  31 


Apart  from  the  inherent  difficulties  in  the  plan  there 
are  certain  considerations  which  make  it  probable  that 
the  churches  will  not  permit  the  religious  educational 
task  to  be  taken  over  by  any  community,  or  extrade- 
nominational  body  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  such  bodies 
the  major  agencies  in  religious  education.  It  is  ques¬ 
tionable  whether  they  ought  to  allow  such  an  event  to 
occur.  The  Church  is  the  divinely  appointed  agency  for 
establishing  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  and  religious 
education  is  the  greatest  instrument  for  accomplishing 
the  task.  Such  activities  as  the  giving  of  secular  instruc¬ 
tion  and  the  care  of  those  who  are  sick  were  once  carried 
on  directly  by  the  churches;  now  they  have  been  taken 
over  to  a  great  extent  by  state  or  community  agencies, 
so  that  in  such  activities  the  Church  plays  a  minor  part 
in  so  far  as  the  actual  carrying  on  of  the  work  is  concerned. 
The  Church  still  supplies  the  underlying  sentiments  and 
attitudes  without  which  both  education  and  charity  could 
not  long  maintain  themselves,  but  the  Church  does  not 
have  so  large  a  part  in  the  direct  control  of  such  activities 
as  it  once  had. 

Will  the  same  thing  happen  in  religious  education? 
Will  this  activity  of  the  Church  pass  into  other  hands  so 
that  the  Church  has  only  a  minor  part  in  it?  Ought  we 
to  try  to  create  a  community  system,  or  an  extradenom- 
inational  system,  of  religious  education  which  cares  for 
the  spiritual  nurture  of  children  as  the  public  schools  care 
for  their  intellectual  training  or  as  the  city  hospital  cares 
for  them  when  they  are  sick  or  injured?  We  can  only 
answer  that  most  people  who  have  thought  deeply  on  the 
matter  do  not  believe  that  the  Church  can  thus  shift  its 
major  task  to  other  shoulders,  and  thus  far  efforts  to  put 
religious  education  on  the  suggested  community  basis 
have  usually  shown  that  this  conservative  view  has  the 
results  of  experience  in  its  favor. 


32 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


2.  An  interdenominational  program  largely  un¬ 
related  to  individual  church  activities.  The  rise  of  the 
daily  vacation  Bible  school  and  the  week-day  church  school 
has  given  an  impetus  toward  interdenominational  cooper¬ 
ation  in  religious  educational  enterprises.  We  sometimes 
hear  it  said  that  the  major  part  of  religious  instruction  con¬ 
cerning  the  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  faith  ought  to 
be  given  in  these  interdenominational  schools,  leaving  the 
Sunday  schools  to  teach  those  tenets  which  are  peculiar  to 
the  denominations  with  which  the  different  Sunday  schools 
are  connected. 

The  need  for  interdenominational  cooperation  is  great 
and  any  movement  toward  a  close  fellowship  in  labor 
among  the  different  branches  of  our  sadly  divided  Protes¬ 
tantism  is  encouraging.  Certain  phases  of  the  educa¬ 
tional  task  can  certainly  be  accomplished  more  economi¬ 
cally  when  denominations  cooperate  in  the  doing  of  the 
work  than  is  the  case  where  there  is  no  such  cooperation. 

But  the  educational  task  is  not  one  that  can  be  done 
efficiently  by  different  agencies  working  without  a  unified 
plan.  It  is  a  question  whether  the  week-day  church 
school  is  capable  of  yielding  its  maximum  benefit  when  it 
takes  the  form  of  an  interdenominational  system  of 
schools  in  which  the  curriculum  is  largely  a  repetition  of 
Sunday-school  instruction  and  where  there  is  no  definite 
correlation  worked  out  for  the  two  sets  of  schools.  The 
same  is  true  to  a  less  extent  of  the  daily  vacation  Bible 
school.  Such  interdenominational  schools  are  in  danger 
of  failing  at  an  important  point.  They  are  apt  to  send 
the  children  forth  at  the  end  of  the  period  of  their  schooling 
without  their  having  become  definitely  attached  to  any 
Church. 

It  seems  certain  that  in  a  system  of  religious  education 
which  is  to  be  nation  wide  and  which  is  to  bring  adequate 
religious  nurture  to  American  childhood  there  will  of 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  33 


necessity  be  a  unified  program  so  that  all  waste  of  over¬ 
lappings  and  all  confusion  arising  from  a  lack  of  common 
goals  among  the  contributing  agencies  of  education  will 
be  eliminated.  All  educational  agencies  will  be  correlated. 
There  will  be  a  unified  course  of  instruction,  adequate 
training  in  worship,  and  suitable  expressional  activity  so 
that  the  religious  ideas  which  have  been  imparted  in  the 
instruction  and  emotionalized  in  the  worship  may  be 
wrought  into  the  activities  of  pupils,  becoming  a  part  of 
their  life  habits  and  the  foundation  of  their  characters. 
So  long  as  these  ends  are  attained  it  does  not  make  much 
difference  whether  the  major  part  of  the  task  is  performed 
by  the  individual  churches  working  by  themselves  or  by 
the  churches  working  in  cooperation.  We  must  keep 
the  spiritual  good  of  the  child  before  us  as  our  goal  and 
not  turn  aside  to  seek  the  good  of  either  denominational 
or  interdenominational  agencies  at  the  expense  of  our 
great  objective. 

3.  A  program  in  which  the  educational  task  has 
a  central  place  in  the  activities  of  the  individual 
church  and  in  which  churches  cooperate  in  those 
phases  of  education  which  can  be  developed  most 
efficiently  by  interchurch  activities.  Those  who 
look  forward  to  some  such  system  as  is  suggested  in  the 
preceding  phrase  believe  that  an  educational  ministry  to 
childhood  is  the  most  important  task  of  the  individual 
church.  They  believe  that  no  adequate  system  of  religious 
education  for  the  nation  can  be  devised  until  education 
is  given  its  rightful  place  in  the  activities  of  the  individual 
church.  When  churches  have  come  to  see  that  this  is 
their  major  task;  when  they  have  learned  to  put  up  their 
buildings  so  that  this  task  can  be  carried  on  without 
meeting  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  because  build¬ 
ings  are  hopelessly  unsuited  for  educational  purposes; 
when  they  have  learned  to  choose  their  pastors  because 


34 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


of  their  fitness  to  oversee  an  individual  church  program 
of  education;  when  these  and  several  other  reforms  are 
accomplished,  we  shall  be  getting  forward  toward  the  goal 
of  an  efficient  system  of  religious  education  for  the  nation. 
We  must  begin  with  the  individual  churches.  So  long  as 
they  are  content  with  a  meager  and  palpably  faulty 
system  of  education  as  a  part  of  their  own  activity,  how 
can  we  hope  that  they  will  set  up  an  extensive  and  efficient 
system  by  working  together? 

The  goal  for  which  we  strive  would,  therefore,  seem  to 
be  a  national  system  of  religious  education  in  which  each 
church  gives  the  spiritual  nurture  of  children  a  place  in 
its  activities  commensurate  with  its  importance,  and  in 
which  there  is  interchurch  and  interdenominational  co¬ 
operation  in  such  parts  of  the  religious  educational  task 
as  can  be  assigned  with  profit  to  such  cooperative  effort. 

This  task  in  which  churches  cooperate,  however,  will 
be  a  definite  part  of  a  unified  program.  This  church 
program  will  itself  be  a  part  of  a  larger  program  of  child 
nurture,  in  which  the  home  and  the  public  school  have  a 
part.  Moreover,  such  profoundly  educational  influences 
as  public  amusements  and  the  daily  press  will  have  to  be 
brought  into  alignment  with  the  church-home-public- 
school  program,  so  that  the  teachings  and  the  influence  of 
these  agencies  may  not  be  made  void  because  of  unfavor¬ 
able  and  evil  elements  in  the  child’s  daily  environment. 

The  Present  Situation  Within  the  Individual 

Church 

Before  he  began  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
Nehemiah  spent  a  night  riding  over  the  ground  where  the 
walls  had  formerly  stood  and  where  he  hoped  to  erect 
them  once  more.  He  was  taking  account  of  stock.  He 
wished  to  understand  all  phases  of  the  situation.  A 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  35 


similar  survey  of  the  educational  conditions  within  the 
individual  church  needs  to  be  made  before  we  begin  to 
lay  plans  for  a  better  system  of  religious  education.  We 
may  be  in  danger  of  becoming  discouraged  as  we  discover 
that  in  the  educational  program  of  the  individual  church 
there  is  much  rubbish.  We  need  to  remember  that 
rubbish  is  often  good  material  out  of  place,  and  that  out 
of  rubbish  Nehemiah  erected  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  into 
beauty  and  strength. 

1.  A  growing  appreciation  of  the  importance  of 
religious  education.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that 
people  who  care  for  religious  matters  and  at  the  same 
time  think  logically  about  them  are  coming  to  appreciate 
the  importance  of  religious  education.  They  are  coming 
to  see  that  the  educational  agencies  of  the  Church  are 
the  chief  recruiting  force  for  the  Kingdom.  They  realize 
that  the  Church  must  teach  or  die;  that  although  churches 
in  times  past  were  able  to  maintain  a  kind  of  intermittent 
feverish  life  by  means  of  periodic  revivals,  that  day  is 
passing.  They  see  that  the  major  point  of  contact 
between  a  church  and  the  community  in  which  it  is  located 
is  through  the  child  life  of  the  community  and  that  the 
effective  approach  to  child  life  is  the  educational  approach. 

This  awakening  appreciation  is  seen  in  the  type  of  new 
church  buildings  which  are  being  erected;  in  the  creation 
of  new  agencies  for  religious  education  and  the  efforts  to 
improve  those  which  have  become  customary;  and  in  a 
growing  demand  for  trained  and  paid  workers  and  bound 
textbooks  for  pupils.  A  religious  educational  awakening 
is  manifest  in  all  but  the  most  unprogressive  of  churches. 
This  awakening  to  the  importance  of  religious  education 
is  a  very  helpful  element  in  the  present  situation.  Without 
such  an  awakening  all  efforts  to  build  a  better  program  for 
the  church  must  be  largely  in  vain,  but  with  such  an 
awakening  great  things  begin  to  seem  possible.  Having 


3G 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


first  of  all  glanced  at  this  favorable  element  in  the  situa¬ 
tion,  we  shall  with  better  courage  examine  some  less 
pleasing  aspects  of  the  matter. 


Chart  II 

THE  ESSENTIAL  ELEMENTS  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  AND 
THEIR  PRESENT  POSITION  IN  THE  EDUCATIONAL 
PROGRAM  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH 


ESSENTIAL 
ELEMENTS  OF 
RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION 

Various  Educational  Agencies  of  the  Individual  Church  and 
Their  Respective  Emphases  on  the  Essential  Elements  of  Religious 
Education.  (Percentages  based  on  studies  in  typical  churches.) 

SUNDAY 

SCHOOL 

CHRISTIAN 

ENDEAVOR 

BOY  SCOUTS. 
GIRLSCOUTS 

WEEK-DAY 

CHURCH 

SCHOOL 

I. 

Information. 
(Chiefly  Con¬ 
cerned  with  the 
Intellect.) 

Emphasis  of 
about 

90% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

10% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

25% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

75% 

II. 

WORSHIP 
(Chiefly  Con¬ 
cerned  with  the 
Emotions.) 

Emphasis  of 
about 

6% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

15% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

2% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

10% 

Ill 

EXPRESSION 
(Chiefly  Con¬ 
cerned  with  the 
Will.) 

Emphasis  of 
about 

4% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

75% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

73% 

Emphasis  of 
about 

15% 

The  chart  on  this  page  has  been  prepared  as  a  basis  for 
our  study  of  the  present  educational  situation  in  the 
individual  church.  The  percentages  are  the  author’s  own 
estimates,  based  on  more  or  less  intensive  study  in  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  churches.  They  are  offered  as 
estimates  only,  and  may  or  may  not  be  the  true  averages 
for  the  churches  of  the  country  as  a  whole.  A  margin  of 
error  in  the  percentages  set  down  will  in  no  way  affect 
the  general  purpose  of  our  study. 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  37 


2.  Three  essential  elements  of  religious  education. 

It  has  come  to  be  quite  generally  believed  that  an  efficient 
program  of  religious  education  must  make  provision  for 
the  imparting  of  adequate  information  concerning  re¬ 
ligious  truth,  for  training  in  worship,  and  for  a  program 
of  activities  in  which  the  truths  taught  are  given  expres¬ 
sion  so  as  to  become  an  inherent  part  of  the  pupil’s  life  and 
character.  These  elements  of  the  educative  process  do 
not  exist  independently  of  one  another.  The  process 
does  not  consist  in  giving  a  few  items  of  information,  then 
a  cessation  of  the  information-giving  process  to  be  followed 
by  a  stirring  of  religious  emotion,  and,  when  that  phase  is 
accomplished,  the  leading  of  the  pupil  into  some  form  of 
activity  which  will  give  expression  to  what  has  been  im¬ 
parted  as  information  and  then  warmed  up  by  a  quickening 
of  the  emotions.  The  teaching  process  is  by  no  means 
so  mechanical  as  this  conception  of  it  would  imply.  The 
different  stages  blend  into  each  other  so  as  to  make  the 
teaching  process  a  unity.  Information  has  to  do  chiefly 
with  the  intellect,  worship  has  to  do  chiefly  with  the  emo¬ 
tions,  and  expression  has  to  do  chiefly  with  the  will.  We 
have  come  to  understand,  however,  that  the  psychic 
activities  of  the  human  individual  are  not  divided  into 
air-tight  compartments.  Feeling  enters  into  the  process 
of  knowledge-getting,  and  both  the  intellect  and  the 
emotions  are  present  in  acts  of  the  will. 

There  is  grave  danger,  nevertheless,  that  some  phases 
of  the  educative  process  will  be  overemphasized  and  others 
underemphasized  so  that  the  teaching  process  will  fall 
short  of  its  goal.  If  the  efforts  of  the  teacher  of  religion 
are  centered  almost  exclusively  upon  the  giving  of  infor¬ 
mation,  the  result  is  apt  to  be  unsatisfactory.  Mathe¬ 
matics  can  be  taught,  after  a  fashion,  where  the  process 
is  largely  an  imparting  of  information,  because  mathe¬ 
matics  is  a  matter  primarily  of  the  intellect.  Religion  is 


38 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


not  primarily  a  matter  of  the  intellect.  If  it  is  a  true 
religion,  it  must  include  the  deep  emotions  of  the  soul  and 
it  must  find  expression  in  the  life  of  the  individual. 

Rabbinic  education  is  an  outstanding  example  of  the 
kind  of  religious  instruction  which  centers  its  efforts  in 
the  imparting  of  information  and  leaves  the  other  phases 
of  the  educative  process  to  chance.  The  rabbis  said  that 
the  model  pupil  was  like  a  well-plastered  cistern  which 
does  not  allow  one  drop  of  water  to  leak  out.  So,  in 
accordance  with  this  idea,  they  taught  their  pupils  to 
memorize  by  rote  long  sections  of  the  Mosaic  Law  and 
of  the  interpretations  of  the  rabbis.  This  kind  of  religious 
education  produced  Phariseeism  and  the  spirit  which  said, 
“This  multitude  that  knoweth  not  the  law  are  accursed. 7 ’ 

It  will  not  do  to  leave  out  instruction  and  center  our 
efforts  on  the  development  of  the  religious  emotions. 
Such  a  process  leads  to  religious  emotionalism.  Its 
effects  are  seen  in  sects  like  that  which  has  been  called 
“Holy  Rollers. ”  People  of  the  “Holy  Roller”  type 
are  produced  through  an  imperfect  religious  education 
which  develops  the  religious  emotions  without  a  proper 
informational  background  and  without  providing  suitable 
avenues  whereby  emotion  can  express  itself  in  orderly 
worship  and  types  of  brotherly  service. 

Expression  has  been  the  phase  of  religious  education 
most  neglected  in  our  church  program.  Our  teaching 
has  been  too  much  on  the  abstract  information  basis,  with 
just  a  little  attempt  to  train  the  pupil  in  the  spirit  and 
forms  of  worship,  and  the  whole  matter  of  religious  ex¬ 
pression  left  to  take  care  of  itself.  We  need  as  religious 
teachers  to  learn  the  meaning  of  that  motto  which  has 
become  familiar  to  all  public-school  teachers,  “There  is 
no  impression  without  expression.”  We  must  have  a 
program  of  expression  coextensive  with  our  program  of 
information  and  a  part  of  the  same  orderly  plan. 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  39 


We  must  not  set  up  any  one  phase  of  the  educative 
process  as  the  all-important  element.  Any  phase  divorced 
from  the  others  is  practically  worthless.  Just  now  there 
is  danger  in  certain  schools  of  religious  educational 
thought  with  regard  to  expression.  We  are  told  that 
nothing  else  counts.  Information-giving  is  discredited 
and  treated  as  though  it  had  no  definite  place  in  the 
program.  We  must  avoid  this  opposite  swing  of  the 
pendulum,  for  an  exclusive  emphasis  on  expression  will 
be  quite  as  mischievous  as  an  exclusive  emphasis  on  in¬ 
formation  or  on  the  development  of  the  religious  emo¬ 
tions.  If  we  pick  out  any  one  phrase  of  the  process  and 
laud  its  importance  and  vehemently  deny  the  place  of 
all  else,  we  shall  be  like  the  blind  men  who  went  to  see 
the  elephant;  we  shall  be  demonstrating  that  we  have 
really  touched  this  great  problem  at  only  one  point  and 
that  the  problem  itself  is  altogether  too  large  for  us. 

3.  The  religious  educative  process  illustrated. 
One  morning  at  the  opening  service  in  a  certain  Sunday 
school  a  missionary  from  Porto  Rico  was  present.  This 
missionary  was  deeply  interested  in  his  work  and  he  had 
passed  through  some  thrilling  experiences.  He  knew  how 
to  present  his  subject  effectively  and  the  pupils  seemed 
deeply  impressed  by  what  they  had  heard.  After  the 
classes  had  gone  to  their  places,  a  certain  young  lad, 
some  fifteen  years  of  age,  arose  in  his  place  and  thus 
addressed  the  president  of  the  class;  “Mr.  President,  I 
know  more  about  Porto  Rico  now  than  I  have  ever  known 
before.  I  feel  that  our  class  ought  to  do  something  to 
help  the  missionaries  who  are  carrying  on  the  work  in 
that  island.  I,  therefore,  move,  Mr.  President,  that  we 
undertake  to  raise  ten  dollars  for  the  support  of  missions 
in  Porto  Rico.”  Unconsciously  this  boy  had  expressed 
the  three  phases  of  the  religious  educative  process.  “I 
know;  I  feel;  I  move”;  these  are  the  phases  through 


40 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


which  religious  truth  is  apprehended  and  wrought  out 
into  life  and  character.  If  that  lad  had  gone  no  further 
than  the  gaining  of  a  few  items  of  information  concerning 
Porto  Rico,  it  would  have  done  neither  him  nor  anybody 
else  much  good.  If  he  had  stopped  with  an  awakened 
interest  and  a  feeling  of  sympathy  and  there  had  been 
no  action  on  his  part,  the  process  would  have  been  in¬ 
complete  and  probably  barren  of  any  real  value.  But 
he  gained  new  ideas  and  these  ideas  emotionalized  by 
sympathy  with  those  in  need,  became  ideals.  These 
ideals  when  given  expression  found  a  place  in  his  person¬ 
ality  and  helped  to  build  in  his  life  a  Christian  character. 

It  is  well  to  note  that  the  religious  educative  process 
does  not  always  take  the  exact  course  indicated  in  this 
illustration.  The  carrying  out  of  a  program  of  expression 
in  itself  results  in  a  sense  of  need  for  further  information, 
and  the  educative  process  will  often  have  its  real  begin¬ 
ning  there.  It  is  not  the  point  of  departure  that  counts, 
but  the  point  of  arrival,  namely,  the  development  of 
Christian  character;  and  that  is  possible  only  when  the 
educative  process  is  complete  and  has  increased  religious 
knowledge,  stirred  religious  emotion,  and  built  a  religious 
life  through  expressional  activity. 

4.  Some  dangerous  omissions.  A  glance  at  the 
chart  on  page  36  will  indicate  some  serious  omissions 
in  the  educational  program  of  the  Church.  The  Sunday- 
school  program  is  sadly  overbalanced  on  the  side  of  in¬ 
formation.  This  fault  may  be  corrected  to  a  certain 
extent  by  the  greater  emphasis  on  worship  and  expression 
given  in  some  of  the  other  organizations  for  young  people 
within  the  church.  We  must  remember,  however,  that 
approximately  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  children  and 
young  people  for  whose  education  the  church  is  respon¬ 
sible  attend  only  the  Sunday  school.  Three  fourths  of 
the  pupils  of  the  church  school  are  therefore  getting  a 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  41 


type  of  religious  education  which  lacks  pedagogical  com¬ 
pleteness  and  must  of  necessity  be  ineffective.  Experience 
shows  that  the  children  and  young  people  who  drop  out 
of  Sunday  school  and  never  become  permanently  attached 
v  to  the  Church  are  for  the  most  part  those  children  and 
young  people  who  have  never  had  any  other  point  of 

/contact  with  the  Church  than  that  of  being  members  of 
the  Sunday  school  for  a  time.  Children  and  young 
people  who  not  only  attend  the  Sunday  school,  but  who 
are  also  identified  with  other  organizations  like  the  Chris¬ 
tian  Endeavor  societies  are  usually  brought  into  church 
membership  and  become  the  working  and  supporting 
force  of  the  church  as  they  develop  into  maturity.  The 
difference  is  due  to  two  causes.  The  second  group  of 
children  and  young  people  are  held  and  the  first  group 
lost  because  the  church  has  had  a  greater  hold  on  the  second 
group  than  it  has  had  on  the  other ;  the  first  group  has  been 
tied  by  one  point  of  contact,  the  second  by  at  least  two.  A 
cause  more  fundamental  is  to  be  sought  in  the  fact  that  the 
children  and  young  people  who  have  gone  away  have  been 
given  an  imperfect  type  of  religious  education  which 
because  of  its  deficiencies  did  not  lay  hold  upon  their 
lives  and  bring  them  to  a  full  religious  development. 

5.  A  program  lacking  in  unity.  Even  if  all  the 
young  people  and  children  of  any  church  were  brought 
into  all  the  organizations  named  in  the  chart,  one  grave 
defect  would  remain.  There  would  be  no  unity  in  the 
program  and  it  would  be  still  liable  to  failure  in  a  dis¬ 
tressingly  high  percentage  of  cases,  because  of  this  funda¬ 
mental  defect.  Such  a  church  would  have  not  one  pro¬ 
gram  of  religious  education,  but  four  or  more  carried  on 
under  different  organizations,  which  are  accustomed  to 
act  quite  independently  of  one  another.  All  of  these 
organizations  would  be  emphasizing  information,  worship, 
and  expression  in  varying  degrees,  but  the  throwing  of 


42 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


them  all  together  would  not  create  a  unified  and  well 
proportioned  program.  Their  work  must  be  correlated 
into  a  unity,  in  order  that  overlappings  and  omissions  be 
eliminated  and  each  phase  of  the  educative  process  be 
given  its  proper  emphasis.  There  must  be  an  orderly 
curriculum  for  the  whole  program  of  the  Church  and  the 
different  educational  agencies  must  take  their  places  in 
this  curriculum.  The  information  given  in  one  organiza¬ 
tion  must  supplement  that  given  in  the  others  and  it 
must  be  a  part  of  the  whole  program  of  information. 
There  must  be  common  goals  toward  which  all  the  organi¬ 
zations  are  striving.  The  worship  periods  must  be 
related  to  the  informational  material  and  not  based  on  a 
meager  and  unrelated  body  of  information  put  in  as  a 
prelude  to  the  period  of  worship.  Expressional  activi¬ 
ties  must  be  related  to  the  informational  and  worship 
phases  of  the  program  and  not  based  on  such  meager 
and  unrelated  informational  matter  as  can  be  put  into  the 
expressional  meeting. 

6.  A  meager  program.  When  a  thinking  person 
really  senses  the  importance  of  the  educational  task  of 
the  Church,  there  is  an  immediate  consciousness  of  the 
meagerness  of  the  program  which  the  Church  has  provided 
for  this  great  task.  The  time  provided  is  meager.  The 
available  teaching  force  is  meager.  The  provisions  for  train¬ 
ing  teachers  are  meager.  Provisions  for  housing  and  equip¬ 
ping  the  church  school  are  meager.  The  money  which 
the  church  puts  into  the  work  is  meager  at  best;  some¬ 
times  it  is  nothing  at  all.  So  we  may  as  well  say  that  if 
the  individual  church  is  to  take  its  rightful  place  in  a 
system  of  religious  education  which  shall  bring  efficient 
religious  nurture  to  all  the  children  of  the  land,  it  must 
have  not  only  a  unified  and  pedagogically  complete 
program,  but  a  program  in  which  there  is  a  larger  provision 
for  all  the  things  which  make  for  efficiency. 


THE  CHURCH  AS  AN  EDUCATIONAL  AGENCY  43 


7.  What  might  be  accomplished  under  an  ade¬ 
quate  program.  When  we  consider  that  even  under 
present  conditions  the  Sunday  school  is  the  greatest 
recruiting  agency  of  the  Church,  greater  perhaps  than  all 
other  agencies  of  the  Church  put  together,  revival  serv¬ 
ices  not  excepted,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  what  religious 
education  might  accomplish  for  the  establishment  of 
God’s  Kingdom  in  the  world  if  only  it  were  given  a  fair 
chance.  If  a  unified,  pedagogically  complete  program, 
efficiently  carried  out  by  trained  and  consecrated  teachers 
who  could  give  their  best  efforts  to  the  work,  were  put  on 
in  all  the  churches  of  the  land,  and  this  program  were 
brought  to  all  the  children  of  our  nation,  we  must  believe 
that  spiritual  illiteracy  would  be  banished  quite  as  effec¬ 
tively  as  intellectual  illiteracy  has  been  banished.  It  has 
been  demonstrated  that  practically  all  the  children  of 
any  community  can  be  reached  with  religious  instruction 
when  suitable  time  for  the  giving  of  such  instruction  is 
secured,  an  interesting  course  of  study  provided,  and  real 
teachers  given  a  chance  to  show  what  can  be  done. 


■ 


CHAPTER  III 


The  New  Program  Which  Is 
Coming  into  View 


' 


CHAPTER  III 

The  New  Program  Which  Is  Coming  into  View 

Agrowing  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  religious 
education  has  resulted  in  a  growing  discontent  with 
the  customary  agencies  which  the  individual  church  pro¬ 
vides  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  educational  task. 
Progressive  churches  have  set  about  the  reorganization 
of  their  educational  systems.  Denominations  are  more 
and  more  seeking  an  educational  leadership  which  shall 
not  confine  its  efforts  mainly  to  supplying  the  individual 
churches  with  such  programs,  lesson  materials,  and 
educational  guidance  as  is  so  insistently  demanded 
the  churches  that  the  appeal  can  hardly  be  denied.  They 
are  seeking  a  leadership  which  shall  go  ahead,  keeping 
fellowship  with  the  most  progressive  churches  of  the 
denomination,  though  their  number  be  a  bare  half  dozen 
or  so,  and  which  leads  the  way  beyond  any  present  pro¬ 
gram  of  any  church.  Denominations  have  come  to  see 
that  their  educational  boards  and  agencies  are  not  func¬ 
tioning  as  they  should  unless  they  are  blazing  new  trails 
which  give  promise  of  larger  and  better  things  in  the  field 
of  religious  education. 

Leaders  of  secular  education  have  come,  in  increasing- 
numbers,  over  into  the  religious  educational  field.  They 
have  seen  that  here  lies  a  great  undeveloped  area  of  the 
educational  task.  They  have  come  to  realize  that  there 
is  something  radically  wrong  with  the  educational  system 
of  America;  that  so  long  as  we  neglect  the  culture  of  the 
religious  faculties,  there  can  be  no  sure  basis  for  the 
culture  of  a  high  type  and  a  lasting  quality  of  the  moral 
life.  These  people  who  have  been  trained  for  the  educa- 

47 


48 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


tional  task  of  the  public  schools  have  a  contribution  of 
great  importance  for  the  educational  work  of  the  Church. 
They  insist  on  new  standards  and  new  methods  and  such 
an  insistence  is  sorely  needed.  Sometimes  these  public- 
school  people  forget  that  religious  education  is  not  the 
same  as  secular  education.  Thoroughly  grounded  in  the 
principles  of  modern  psychology  and  pedagogical  science, 
they  seek  to  apply  their  technical  knowledge  and  trained 
skill  to  their  new  problems  in  the  field  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  in  the  same  way  as  they  applied  their  knowledge  and 
skill  in  the  field  of  secular  education.  It  is  only  gradually 
that  they  learn  that  there  is  a  difference  between  religious 
education  and  secular  education,  a  difference  which  is  funda¬ 
mental  and  far-reaching,  which  demands  in  the  efficient 
religious  educator  a  knowledge  of  theology  as  well  as  a 
knowledge  of  psychology,  which  demands  skill  in  training 
the  religious  emotions  as  well  as  the  ability  to  give  guidance 
in  the  process  of  knowledge-getting,  and  which  demands 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Bible  as  the  central  element 
in  the  religious  educational  curriculum.  Some  of  these 
public-school  people  are  proving  immensely  valuable  to 
the  cause  of  religious  education.  Others  are  of  less  value 
than  they  might  be  if  they  would  only  concede  that  those 
who  have  been  long  in  the  religious  educational  task  may 
possibly  know  a  thing  or  two  about  this  work.  All  would 
be  well  if  the  public-school  people  would  only  consent  to 
play,  to  a  little  extent,  the  part  of  learners  as  well  as 
the  part  of  teachers. 

Communities  have  awakened  to  a  new  sense  of  respon¬ 
sibility  for  the  religious  nurture  of  the  young,  and  com¬ 
munity  efforts  have  not  infrequently  been  made  for  the 
training  of  religious  teachers  and  even  for  the  carrying 
on  of  schools  in  which  the  children  are  to  receive  religious 
instruction. 

Thoughtful  pastors/  in  larger  and  larger  numbers,  have 


THE  NEW  PROGRAM  COMING  INTO  VIEW 


49 


come  to  wonder  whether  the  program  of  the  Church  could 
not  be  modified  so  as  to  make  it  more  educational; 
whether  there  ought  not  to  be  a  larger  attention  to  the 
needs  of  the  junior  members  of  the  congregation.  They 
have  come  to  feel  that  their  greatest  goal  ought  to  be  a 
ministry  suited  to  the  developing  minds  of  children  and 
young  people  rather  than  a  ministry  so  evidently  intended 
for  people  of  adult  mind  and  mature  experience. 

Statesmen  such  as  President  Harding  and  business 
men  such  as  Roger  W.  Babson  have  seen  deeply  into 
American  life  and  have  understood  that  the  fundamental 
need  of  our  nation  is  a  need  for  a  thorough  and  universal 
religious  nurture  for  American  childhood.  They  have 
issued  clear  calls  to  the  churches  to  take  up  this  great 
task  with  renewed  effort  and  with  reorganized  programs 
which  will  give  promise  of  more  satisfactory  results  than 
can  be  shown  at  present. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  sources  of  the  religious  educa¬ 
tional  revival  are  widespread.  The  demand  for  a  better 
system  of  religious  education  in  America  has  its  roots 
in  many  different  organizations  and  many  different 
classes  of  citizens.  Individual  churches,  organizations 
like  the  Kiwanis  Clubs,  denominational  boards  and 
agencies  having  responsibility  for  education,  pastors  of 
churches,  public-school  educators,  statesmen,  business 
men — these  individuals  and  these  organizations,  together 
with  many  others,  have  helped  to  create  the  widely  felt 
need  for  a  program  of  education  larger  and  more  efficient 
than  we  have  now  or  ever  have  had. 

There  have  been  not  only  calls  here  and  there  for  a 
larger  and  better  program  of  religious  education,  but  also 
many  and  repeated  efforts  to  solve  the  problems  involved 
in  setting  up  such  a  program.  Here  a  church  has  been  im¬ 
pressed  with  the  inefficiency  of  its  Sunday  school  and  has 
struck  out  in  a  new  manner,  making  some  progress  toward 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


50  . 

the  solution  of  its  problems.  There  a  community  has 
awakened  to  the  fact  that  not  half  of  its  children  were 
receiving  religious  instruction  and  has  organized  agencies 
for  wiping  out  this  disgrace.  Some  communities  have 
been  so  successful  in  such  efforts  that  the  children  have 
been  gathered  into  religious  schools  one  hundred  per  cent 
strong.  Here  a  pastor  has  come  to  believe  that  his  church 
owed  its  sickness  to  a  lack  of  religion  in  the  homes  of  the 
congregation.  He  has  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of 
introducing,  or  reintroducing,  religion  into  the  homes  of 
his  people.  He  has  helped  parents  to  erect  family  altars 
and  has  shown  them  their  responsibility  for  the  spiritual 
nurture  of  their  offspring.  Through  his  efforts  and  the 
efforts  of  his  helpers  the  whole  life  of  the  community 
has  been  transformed.  One  church  has  seen  that  its 
educational  program  is  lacking  in  unity  and  has  organized 
a  correlated  school.  Another  has  found  an  efficient  way 
to  train  its  teaching  force.  One  has  learned  that  the 
young  people  can  be  reached  and  held  by  making  the 
church  minister  to  the  social  and  recreational  life  of  young 
people.  Another  has  tried  out  a  combination  service  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Sunday  school  and  the  morning 
preaching  service  and  finds  that  the  new  plan  is  more 
efficient  than  the  old. 

It  is  out  of  this  widespread  interest  in  religious  educa¬ 
tion,  out  of  the  multiplied  demands  for  a  better  program 
coming  from  many  sources,  and  out  of  such  experimenta¬ 
tion  as  has  been  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph, 
that  the  new  program  of  religious  education  is  beginning 
to  appear.  Is  it  possible  that  a  unified  and  efficient 
program  of  religious  education  for  America  can  emerge 
out  of  such  divergent  and  apparently  chaotic  sources? 
Can  we  predict  thus  early  in  the  movement  anything 
with  regard  to  what  that  program  is  to  be?  A  study  of 
the  situation  will  enable  us  to  answer  both  these  questions 


THE  NEW  PROGRAM  COMING  INTO  VIEW 


51 


in  the  affirmative  with  some  degree  of  confidence.  Con¬ 
ditions  are  not  so  chaotic  as  they  seem  to  be  on  the  sur¬ 
face.  There  are  certain  underlying  thoughts  and  funda¬ 
mental  principles  which  are  common  to  most  of  the  plans 
proposed  and  to  most  of  the  efforts  put  forth  for  the  solving 
of  the  problem  which  is  before  us.  A  brief  outline  of  the 
new  educational  program  in  so  far  as  it  is  to  be  a  task  of 
the  individual  church  and  as  it  seems  to  be  forecast  in  the 
primary  religious  educational  movements  of  the  times  is 
the  remaining  task  of  this  chapter.  Most  of  the  items 
here  considered  will  be  taken  up  for  fuller  and  separate 
treatment  in  succeeding  chapters. 

1.  The  new  program  will  be  properly  organized. 
Good  organization  is  fundamentally  important  in  the 
educational  program  of  the  individual  church,  because 
it  makes  the  attainment  of  efficiency  less  difficult.  A 
poorly  organized  program  tends  to  waste  the  efforts  of 
teachers  and  supervisors.  Churches  have  been  ex¬ 
perimenting  for  some  years  with  different  forms  of  organi¬ 
zation.  We  have  heard  much  of  departments  and  divi¬ 
sions  and  organized  classes.  There  has  been  a  fairly 
continuous  evolution  leading  up  from  the  one-room  Sunday 
school  to  the  organized  school  of  the  church  which  lays 
out  in  one  comprehensive  scheme  the  whole  educational 
task  of  the  church.  By  noting  the  stages  of  this  evolu¬ 
tion  and  the  direction  of  its  trend,  we  ought  to  be  able 
to  predict  with  some  certainty  the  outstanding  phases  of 
the  church-school  organization  which  will  be  regarded  as 
standard  in  the  days  when  the  new  program  comes  into 
actual  existence.  An  attempt  to  do  this  will  be  made  in 
the  next  chapter. 

2.  The  new  program  will  be  efficiently  adminis¬ 
tered.  One  grave  defect  which  has  been  until  recently 
almost  universal  in  the  educational  program  of  the  in¬ 
dividual  church  is  seen  in  the  loose  relationship  which 


.52 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


has  existed  between  the  church  and  its  educational 
agencies.  The  Sunday  school  has  been  in  a  state  of 
semi-independence,  or  worse.  The  official  board  of  the 
church  has  been  theoretically  responsible  for  the  conduct 
of  the  Sunday  school  and  the  other  educational  agencies 
of  the  church,  but  its  relations  to  these  organizations  has 
been  of  the  most  nebulous  character.  The  official  board 
has  not  functioned  as  an  administrative  agency  having 
the  oversight  of  educational  activity  in  the  church.  The 
educational  agencies  of  the  church  have  thus  been  left 
without  any  real  supervision.  An  educational  system 
lacking  supervision  can  have  no  uniform  efficiency.  All 
will  depend  upon  individual  teachers  and  upon  the  kind  of 
leaders  the  other  educational  agencies  happen  to  find. 
A  Sunday  school  with  a  superintendent  who  does  not 
supervise  instruction  can  have  no  high  and  uniform 
efficiency.  A  good  many  churches  are  coming  to  under¬ 
stand  this  educational  principle  and  to  realize  that  real 
supervision  is  far  more  essential  in  the  church  school  than 
it  is  in  the  public  school.  Public-school  teachers  are 
trained  for  their  work  and  ought  to  be  able  to  “go  it 
alone”  better  than  church-school  teachers  who  have  had 
meager  training  or  none  at  all,  yet  it  is  thought  necessary 
to  have  an  extensive  and  efficient  corps  of  supervisors  in 
the  public  schools  while  we  are  just  beginning  to  realize 
that  something  of  the  kind  is  needed  for  church  schools. 

3.  The  new  program  will  have  a  _  curriculum 
which  is  adequate  in  its  extent  and  suitable  in  its 
subject  matter.  The  time  is  past  when  we  can  answer 
the  curriculum  problem  with  the  short  and  simple  admoni¬ 
tion,  “Teach  the  Bible.”  If  the  Bible  is  to  be  reallv 
taught,  its  subject  matter  must  be  built  into  a  series  of 
graded  lessons.  Its  wonderful  truths  are  best  taught 
when  they  are  not  only  seen  in  the  Bible  setting,  but 
also  illustrated  by  the  richly  educative  material  to  be 


THE  NEW  PROGRAM  COMING  INTO  VIEW 


53 


found  in  literature,  art  and  history.  We  are  coming  to 
understand  that  Bible  truths  are  never  really  taught  at 
all  until  they  awaken  the  proper  emotional  response  in 
the  heart  of  the  pupil  and  are  then  given  expression  in 
the  pupil’s  life  and  character.  Hence  we  must  regard  the 
culture  of  the  religious  emotions  and  a  program  of  re¬ 
ligious  activities  as  essential  elements  in  a  curriculum 
which  has  the  Bible  as  its  center.  What  about  missions, 
stewardship,  temperance,  the  great  hymns  of  the  Church, 
and  other  such  matters?  A  discussion  of  these  elements 
of  the  curriculum  would  take  us  beyond  the  necessary 
limits  of  this  paragraph  and  must  be  taken  up  at  another 
time. 

4.  In  the  new  program  the  Sunday  school  will  be 
a  part  of  a  unified  plan  which  includes  all  the  edu¬ 
cational  agencies  of  the  individual  church.  There 
can  be  no  educational  efficiency  where  there  is  no  unified 
plan  of  cooperation  between  the  different  agencies  having 
to  do  with  the  educational  task.  The  new  program  will 
secure  efficiency;  therefore,  it  will  be  unified.  Sunday 
school,  Christian  Endeavor,  missionary  society,  and 
week-day  church  school  will  be  no  longer  independent 
agencies.  They  will  be  component  parts  of  a  unified 
program,  sessions  of  a  church  school  and  phases  of  its 
activity.  They  will  be  under  one  administrative  and 
supervisory  agency.  They  will  have  to  do  with  a  curric¬ 
ulum  which  is  common  to  all  and  for  a  portion  of  which 
each  is  responsible.  Such  an  absorption  of  the  Sunday 
school  into  a  new  and  efficient  educational  program  of  the 
individual  church  is  not  to  destroy  it,  but  to  enable  it  to 
fulfill  its  destiny.  The  same  truth  applies  to  the  other 
educational  agencies  of  the  Church. 

5.  Week-day  religious  instruction  will  have  a 
place  in  the  new  program.  In  most  communities 
the  time  available  for  religious  education  is  hopelessly 


54 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


inadequate.  Adequate  time  is  absolutely  fundamental 
in  religious  education.  There  can  be  no  substitute  for 
it.  There  can  be  no  great  advance  or  improvement  until 
more  adequate  time  is  secured.  There  is  no  cure  for  this 
inadequacy  apart  from  the  securing  of  week-day  time  for 
the  task.  The  best  week-day  time  is  public-school  time 
and  religious  education  has  a  right  to  the  best.  Public- 
school  people  who  have  spiritual  vision  are  already 
gladly  granting  public-school  time  for  religious  education 
to  be  given  under  the  care  of  the  churches.  Public- 
school  boards  which  lack  this  vision  are  behind  their 
times.  They  are  lacking  in  a  sense  of  spiritual  values; 
they  ought  to  change  their  views  or  lay  down  all  respon¬ 
sibility  for  any  institution  which  has  to  do  with  child¬ 
hood  and  youth. 

6.  Vacation  time  will  be  utilized  in  the  new 
program.  The  vacation  Bible  school  has  shown  that 
children  enjoy  a  school  for  religious  instruction  conducted 
during  the  summer  vacation  season,  if  the  school  is 
properly  organized  and  an  efficient  teaching  force  is 
secured.  The  vacation  school  has  a  peculiar  advantage 
in  that  its  sessions  can  be  of  considerable  length  and  can 
come  on  consecutive  days.  Certain  types  of  work  which 
are  very  hard  to  do  under  the  usual  Sunday-school  or 
week-day-church-school  plan,  can  be  accomplished  easily 
under  the  more  generous  arrangements  of  the  vacation 
Bible  school.  It  should  be  remembered  that  a  vacation 
Bible  school  of  standard  length  doubles  the  time  usually 
available  for  religious  instruction.  It  seems  certain  that 
this  new  agency  has  come  to  stay  and  that  it  will  find  a 
large  and  important  place  in  the  program  of  education 
which  is  being  evolved. 

7.  Bxpressional  activities  will  have  a  large  place 

in  the  new  program.  There  is  no  real  religious  teach¬ 
ing  which  does  not  result  in  modified  conduct.  To  give 


THE  NEW  PROGRAM  COMING  INTO  VIEW 


55 


religious  instruction,  trusting  that  in  some  way  the  truths 
imparted  will  work  themselves  out  into  habits  and  charac¬ 
ter,  will  not  do  as  a  working  basis  for  religious  education. 
There  must  be  a  program  of  expressional  activities  co¬ 
extensive  with  the  informational  program  and  growing 
out  of  it.  The  expressional  part  of  the  educational  pro¬ 
gram  must  not  be  a  kind  of  elective  which  few  of  the 
church-school  pupils  elect.  It  must  be  a  part  of  the 
regular  educational  program  and  all  the  church-school 
pupils  must  be  brought  into  it,  if  there  is  to  be  a  true 
type  of  religious  nurture  for  all.  In  the  new  program 
Christian  Endeavor  societies  and  other  like  expressional 
organizations  will  find  their  rightful  place  in  a  unified 
program  of  religious  education  for  the  individual  church. 
A  change  of  name  would  not  seem  to  be  necessary ;  neither 
will  there  need  to  be  any  very  extensive  changes  in  pro¬ 
gram.  The  study  topics  will  have  to  be  related  in  some 
orderly  way  to  the  whole  curriculum  material  of  the 
church  school.  This  will  leave  the  expressional  agencies 
free  for  their  part  of  the  task,  and  they  will  be  able  to  do 
it  better  if  they  are  relieved  from  certain  phases  of  the 
educative  process  because  of  the  taking  over  of  these 
phases  by  other  educational  agencies  with  which  they 
are  in  cooperation. 

Such  an  absorption  of  the  expressional  agencies  into 
a  unified  program  would  be  a  fulfillment  of  their  destiny, 
enabling  them  to  accomplish  the  great  ends  which  their 
founders  had  in  view,  for  they  all  came  into  being  because 
earnest  friends  of  the  Christian  religion  sought  to  bring 
young  people  into  closer  relationships  with  individual 
churches.  The  interdenominational  activities  of  such 
organizations  ought  to  be  preserved,  for  there  is  need  for  just 
such  a  contact  of  church-school  pupils  of  different  churches 
and  different  denominations  as  has  been  brought  about  by 
the  Christian  Endeavor  unions  and  similar  organizations. 


56 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


8.  The  new  program  of  education  in  the  individual 
church  will  encourage  a  program  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation  in  the  home,  will  help  to  create  such  a  pro¬ 
gram,  and  will  be  in  close  cooperation  with  it.  The 

attempt  to  rear  altars  in  the  church  and  in  the  nation  will 
be  futile  if  there  are  no  altars  in  the  homes.  The  home 
was  intended  to  be  the  primary  educational  agency,  and 
God’s  laws  cannot  be  changed.  The  home  will  continue 
to  be  the  foremost  educational  influence  in  the  life  of 
the  child  for  either  good  or  evil.  The  new  educational 
program  of  the  church  will  recognize  this  fact  and  will 
contain  within  itself  instruments  for  helping  the  home 
influences  to  be  good  and  not  bad. 

9.  The  new  educational  program  of  the  individual 
church  will  work  in  harmony  and  cooperation  with 
all  needful  denominational  and  interdenomina¬ 
tional  educational  agencies.  Independent  and  com¬ 
peting  efforts  at  religious  education,  however  good  the 
intentions  of  their  promoters,  are  apt  to  be  bad  for  the 
child.  Long-distance  thrusts  at  the  boy  by  competing 
agencies  must  give  place  to  a  system  of  education  in  which 
the  boy’s  home  and  the  boy’s  church  have  first  say  in  his 
religious  nurture  and  are  competent  to  give  him  the 
things  most  necessary  for  his  spiritual  growth.  Agencies 
denominational,  interdenominational,  and  extradenomina- 
tional,  of  the  community  or  hundreds  of  miles  away,  will 
work  through  the  individual  church,  in  harmony  with  its 
plans,  and  as  a  supplement  to  its  programs. 

10.  The  new  educational  program  of  the  churches 
will  be  closely  correlated  with  the  program  of  the 
public  schools.  The  child  is  a  unity  and  the  closer  the 
correlation  which  exists  between  the  educational  agencies 
which  have  to  do  with  the  child’s  development,  the  more 
effectively  will  the  different  agencies  perform  their  task. 
There  are  good  reasons  why  the  pupils  of  a  high-school 


THE  NEW  PROGRAM  COMING  INTO  VIEW 


57 


class  who  are  studying  Roman  history  in  the  public  school 
should  study  the  beginnings  of  the  Christian  Church  and 
its  progress  within  the  Roman  Empire.  Such  an  arrange¬ 
ment  is  economical  of  the  pupils’  efforts  and  of  teachers’ 
labors.  A  course  in  Church  history  covering  the  first 
five  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  can  be  taught  in  this 
way  with  about  half  the  effort  that  would  be  required 
were  it  taught  independently  of  a  course  in  the  general 
history  of  Rome.  Each  course  serves  as  a  complement 
to  the  other.  Things  which  belong  together  in  history 
are  studied  at  the  same  time  and  associated  together.  A 
true  conception  of  events  and  their  significance  is  gained. 

What  is  true  of  the  high-school  grades  is  equally  true 
of  all  grades.  Little  Primary  tots  who  are  getting  their 
first  lessons  in  flowers  and  bees  and  birds  in  the  public- 
school  classes  ought  to  have  this  public-school  instruc¬ 
tion  supplemented  by  something  which  the  public  schools 
in  our  country  cannot  give.  In  their  church  school  they 
should  be  studying  the  same  things,  but  with  this  differ¬ 
ence;  the  church-school  teacher  leads  the  child  to  know 
and  love  the  Creator  God,  who  made  the  flowers  and 
birds,  and  to  know  the  Child-Friend  Saviour,  who  loves 
and  cares  for  all  the  Father  has  made. 

11.  The  new  educational  program  of  the  churches 
will  lay  restraining  hands  on  all  that  mars  child 
life  and  makes  void  the  efforts  which  are  put  forth  for 
the  religious  nurture  of  children.  Moving-picture 
shows  where  people  of  base  character  depict  killings, 
suicides,  and  other  such  dime-novel  trash  before  audiences 
of  children  will  have  to  go.  Child  labor  in  dingy  mills 
and  blackened  coal  breakers  will  not  be  tolerated.  Slum 
and  dive  and  bootleg  den  will  be  hounded  out  of  existence 
when  humanity  awakes  to  the  importance  of  safeguard¬ 
ing  child  life  from  educational  influences  that  are  degrad¬ 
ing.  The  “ funny  page”  of  the  daily  paper  will  be  full 


58 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


of  humor,  but  not  low  or  vicious,  as  is  now  so  often  the 
case. 

12.  The  new  educational  program  will  produce 
results.  The  new  educational  program  of  the  church 
will  furnish  adequate  and  efficient  religious  education. 
It  will  teach  the  Bible  effectively  and  GocPs  Word  will  not 
return  unto  him  void  but  will  accomplish  that  which  he 
pleases  and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  he  has 
sent  it.  Approximately  all  the  children  of  the  land  will 
be  brought  under  religious  instruction.  They  have  been 
thus  enrolled  in  the  religious  schools  of  other  nations; 
why  not  in  ours?  They  have  been  so  enrolled  in  some 
American  communities;  why  not  in  all?  The  children 
and  youth  of  the  land  will  be  brought  into  the  Christian 
Church  and  the  Christian  life.  There  is  no  doubt  about 
it.  They  have  been  wonderfully  responsive  when  our 
educational  efforts  have  been  meager,  intermittent,  and 
sometimes  half-hearted;  is  there  any  reason  to  believe 
that  a  harvest  correspondingly  great  will  not  be  reaped 
when  we  show  ourselves  workmen  who  need  not  be 
ashamed? 


CHAPTER  IV 

New  Standards  Needed 


, 


- 


Ill 


. 


CHAPTER  IV 
New  Standards  Needed 

DURING  the  past  ten  years,  public-school  educators 
have  undertaken  to  erect  definite  standards  for 
practically  every  phase  of  their  work.  Public-school 
education  is  rapidly  passing  out  of  the  period  of  standards 
and  measurements  based  on  personal  opinion  into  a 
period  of  standards  and  measurements  based  on  wide 
experimentation  and  scientific  investigation.  Something 
of  the  same  kind  is  taking  place  in  religious  education. 
Churches  are  coming  to  see  that  there  is  value  in  erecting 
standards  based  not  upon  the  experience  of  a  few  individ¬ 
uals  of  not  very  wide  experience  but  upon  the  collected  and 
compared  experiences  of  thousands  of  individuals,  many  of 
whom  have  had  wide  experience  in  church-school  teaching 
and  who  have  made  religious  education  a  subject  of  life¬ 
long  study.  They  are  coming  to  realize  that  Deacon 
Boggs  may  not  know  all  that  ought  to  be  known  about 
religious  education,  even  though  he  has  been  Sunday- 
school  superintendent  for  thirty  years. 

The  educational  work  of  practically  every  church  has 
suffered  because  suitable  standards  have  not  been  erected. 
A  church  school  without  suitable  standards  fails  to  have 
goals  that  are  definite.  It  has  no  adequate  means  of 
measuring  its  progress.  Not  possessing  any  definite 
ideas  as  to  where  it  is  going,  it  does  not  know  whether  it 
is  getting  along  well  or  poorly.  Certain  educational 
agencies  of  the  individual  church  usually  have  standards 
of  their  own,  but  there  is  an  almost  total  lack  of  standards 
for  the  whole  educational  task  of  the  individual  church. 
Each  organization  has  set  up  its  standards  without  taking 

61 


62 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


into  consideration  the  work  done  by  other  organizations 
of  the  church.  Since  no  educational  agency  of  the  church 
can  carry  on  its  work  efficiently  without  cooperating 
with  the  other  educational  agencies  of  the  church,  it 
follows  that  these  standards  are  defective  at  least  in  one 
important  matter.  Every  standard  for  an  educational 
agency  ought  to  have  some  such  item  as,  “Correlation 
with  Other  Educational  Agencies  of  the  Church.” 

Most  of  the  standards  set  up  for  individual  educational 
agencies  are  defective  in  other  respects  than  that  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  because  no  suitable 
standard  for  any  one  agency  can  be  erected  unless  the 
whole  educational  aim  is  kept  in  view.  We  need,  there¬ 
fore,  a  standard  for  the  whole  educational  program,  that 
is,  for  the  Church  school  as  a  whole;  and  we  need  stand¬ 
ards  for  the  different  organizations  which  make  up 
the  church  school  for  the  Sunday  school,  the  week-day 
classes,  and  the  expressional  meetings.  Items  which 
have  to  do  with  the  whole  educational  program  should 
be  contained  in  the  church-school  standards.  Items 
which  have  to  do  with  individual  organizations  of  the 
church  school  should  be  included  in  the  standards  for 
such  organizations.  For  example,  the  item  “Adminis¬ 
tration  and  Supervision,”  since  it  refers  to  matters 
belonging  to  the  church  school  as  a  whole,  should  be 
included  in  the  church-school  standard.  Such  an  item 
as  “Taking  Part  in  the  Expressional  Meetings”  belongs 
peculiarly  to  the  expressional  organization  and  should 
appear  in  its  standards. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  analyze  the  standards  set 
up  for  all  the  educational  organizations  of  the  individual 
church.  A  consideration  of  the  standards  adopted  for 
the  Sunday  school  will  be  sufficient  to  illustrate  certain 
changes  which  are  needed  in  all,  if  the  educational  work  of 
the  church  is  to  be  unified  and  brought  into  a  state  of 


NEW  STANDARDS  NEEDED 


63 


efficiency  at  all  comparable  with  the  work  of  our  public 
schools. 


A  Ten-Point  Sunday-School  Standard 

The  following  ten-point  standard  is  in  use  among  the 
Sunday  schools  of  more  than  thirty  denominations: 

1.  Cradle  Roll  and  Home  Department. 

2.  Organized  Bible  Classes  in  Young  People’s  and  Adult 
Divisions. 

3.  Teacher-Training. 

4.  Graded  Organization  and  Instruction. 

5.  Missionary  Instruction  and  Offering. 

6.  Temperance  Instruction. 

7.  Definite  Decision  for  Christ  Urged. 

8.  Workers’  Conferences  Regularly  Held. 

9.  Full  Denominational  Requirements.  (Special  Days, 
Denominational  Lesson  Materials,  et  cetera.) 

10.  Full  Sunday  School  Association  Requirements. 
(Reports,  Offering,  et  cetera.) 

A  Sunday  school  which  can  establish  a  claim  to  each  of 
the  above  items  is  given  the  title,  “Standard  Sunday 
School.”  It  is,  therefore,  looked  upon  as  having  attained 
the  goal  set  up  for  it  by  the  denomination  to  which  it 
belongs.  There  may  be  danger  in  setting  our  goals  too 
high,  but  there  is  also  danger  in  setting  them  too  low. 
The  educational  leaders  of  the  various  denominations 
have  evidently  erred  in  the  latter  respect  rather  than  in 
the  former.  The  great  defect  of  this  standard  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  is  constructed  without  regard  to  the  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  of  the  individual  church  which  are  outside 
of  the  Sunday  school,  but  with  which  the  Sunday  school 
must  cooperate  if  the  work  of  religious  education  is  to  be 
accomplished  in  an  efficient  manner.  We  may  leave  this 
point  for  the  present,  however,  and  inquire  as  to  whether 
the  standard  is  satisfactory  in  other  respects.  Does  it 


64 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


contain  all,  or  approximately  all,  of  the  goals  for  which 
the  Sunday  school  ought  to  strive?  Is  it  well  constructed 
with  due  proportion  and  logical  arrangement  of  items? 

1.  A  standard  which  is  not  well-constructed.  A 
little  study  of  the  standard  will  indicate  that  the  foregoing 
questions  must  be  answered  in  the  negative.  The 
standard  is  not  well-constructed.  Its  form  suggests  that 
it  has  grown  by  consecutive  additions  to  it,  as  one  phase 
or  another  of  Sunday-school  work  became  prominent 
enough  to  claim  recognition  on  the  standard.  It  seems 
to  be  a  loosely  constructed  list  of  things  thought  necessary 
for  a  Sunday  school  rather  than  an  orderly  arrangement 
of  the  items  which  are  of  greatest  importance  in  the 
educational  program  which  the  church  is  seeking  to  carry 
on  through  the  Sunday  school.  Some  of  the  items  overlap 
each  other.  The  Cradle  Roll  and  the  Home  Department 
are  parts  of  the  general  organization  scheme  of  graded 
departments.  Why  give  them  separate  mention  and  count 
them  as  possessing  together  a  value  equal  to  one  tenth  of 
the  whole  program?  Missionary  instruction  and  tem¬ 
perance  instruction  have  to  do  with  the  curriculum. 
Why  mention  them  separately  and  give  them  an  im¬ 
portance  which  is  equal  to  one  fifth  of  the  whole  educa¬ 
tional  program?  Why  not  have  an  adequate  curriculum 
as  one  of  the  required  items  of  the  standard  and  include 
in  the  curriculum  all  subject  matter  which  ought  to  have 
a  place  in  the  educational  program  of  the  church?  The 
matter  of  organization  is  scattered  through  several  items. 
Why  not  make  organization  a  single  item  of  the  standard 
and  gather  under  it  all  forms  of  organization  deemed 
desirable,  such  as  organized  departments,  organized 
classes,  and  organized  teaching  force? 

2.  Certain  serious  omissions.  It  seems  certain  that 
a  number  of  items  which  are  essential  for  an  efficient 
Sunday  school  are  omitted  entirely  from  the  standard. 


NEW  STANDARDS  NEEDED 


65 


It  has  nothing  to  say  regarding  enrollment.  The  Sunday 
school  is  the  agency  of  the  church  for  bringing  religious 
education  to  all  the  children  of  the  church’s  constituency. 
Ought  a  Sunday  school  to  be  considered  standard  if  it 
is  not  fifty  per  cent  efficient  in  this  fundamental  phase  of 
its  task?  If  a  church  is  responsible  for  the  religious 
nurture  of  one  thousand  children  and  has  not  enrolled 
more  than  four  hundred  children  in  its  Sunday  school, 
ought  that  church  to  be  credited  with  having  a  standard 
educational  agency  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  im¬ 
portant  task? 

The  standard  says  nothing  about  attendance.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  Sunday-school  pupils  attend,  about  half 
the  time.  Under  the  present  arrangements  a  Sunday 
school  could  fall  to  this  deplorable  state  and  even  lower 
and  still  be  counted  as  a  standard  school.  Every  public- 
school  teacher  knows  that  if  a  pupil  habitually  misses 
one  day  from  each  week  of  school,  that  pupil  receives 
only  about  half  of  the  value  of  instruction  which  is  being 
given.  Public  schools  are  therefore  very  particular  about 
attendance.  No  school  showing  a  low  percentage  of  attend¬ 
ance  could  possibly  be  considered  standard  in  any  state  of 
our  nation.  And  yet  the  matter  of  attendance  is  more 
important  in  the  church  school  than  it  is  in  the  public 
school.  Church-school  recitation  periods  are  far  apart 
at  best,  and  when  the  distance  separating  the  recitation 
periods  is  doubled  because  of  the  absence  of  the  pupil, 
any  real  educational  work  becomes  impossible.  Frequent 
absences  on  the  part  of  pupils  cause  Sunday-school 
teaching  to  become  the  imparting  of  isolated  and  unre¬ 
lated  items  of  information,  which  is  not  really  teaching 
at  all. 

The  standard  has  nothing  to  say  about  punctuality 
and  good  order  and  manifest  interest  on  the  part  of  pupils. 
All  these  are  important  items  in  public-school  standards, 


66 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


and  if  they  are  wanting  in  the  church  school,  the  work 
accomplished  will  not  be  large,  nor  will  it  be  permanent. 
Religious  truths  must  be  taught  in  harmony  with  the 
requirements  of  pedagogy,  if  they  are  to  be  taught  with 
efficiency. 

The  standard  we  are  considering  has  nothing  to  say 
with  regard  to  actual  accomplishments.  In  public- 
school  standards  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  items. 
The  school  must  not  only  have  the  kind  of  organization 
and  the  kind  of  teaching  which  make  successful  education 
reasonably  to  be  expected,  but  it  must  also  be  able  to  show 
the  actual  results.  Pupils  must  pass  examinations  on 
the  subjects  taught.  They  must  show  that  they  have  not 
merely  memorized  certain  facts,  but  that  they  have  also 
gained  skill  in  using  the  knowledge  gained,  that  they  have 
grown  in  the  power  to  think  and  to  do.  Is  it  wise  to 
credit  a  church  with  having  a  standard  school  when  we 
do  not  know  anything  about  what  the  school  is  accomplish¬ 
ing?  Ought  we  not  to  insist  on  tests  which  would  reveal 
whether  or  not  religious  information  is  being  imparted 
at  all,  and  whether  such  information  is  being  given  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  it  effective  in  the  character  and 
conduct  of  the  pupils? 

3.  Outside  interests  which  confuse  the  aim.  It 

would  seem  that  a  Sunday-school  standard  ought  to  be 
constructed  with  the  one  aim  of  providing  adequate  and 
efficient  religious  instruction  for  the  children  of  the  church 
and  other  pupils  for  whose  spiritual  welfare  the  church 
is  responsible.  Every  item  of  the  standard  can  rightly 
be  subjected  to  this  test.  The  spiritual  good  of  the  pupils, 
rather  than  the  interests  of  the  denomination  or  of  some 
interdenominational  organization,  must  be  the  matter  for 
first  consideration.  If  an  offering  to  a  Sunday-school 
association  is  of  enough  importance  as  an  item  in  the 
education  of  church-school  pupils  to  entitle  it  to  a  place 


NEW  STANDARDS  NEEDED 


67 


on  the  standard,  it  should  be  there.  It  should  not  be 
placed  on  the  standard  because  it  is  to  the  interest  of 
the  Sunday-school  association  to  have  it  there.  If 
missionary  instruction  is  of  sufficient  educational  impor¬ 
tance  to  entitle  it  to  one  tenth  of  the  standard’s  estima¬ 
tion  of  values,  it  should  have  a  corresponding  recognition 
in  the  standard.  It  should  not  be  given  this  rating  in 
order  to  promote  some  missionary  organization.  If  a 
certain  type  of  denominational  literature  has  religious 
educational  value  over  any  other  kind  of  literature  suffi¬ 
cient  to  give  the  use  of  the  denominational  literature  ten 
points  of  value  in  a  hundred-point  standard,  it  should  be 
given  such  a  rating.  It  should  not  be  given  this  recogni¬ 
tion  in  the  interests  of  denominational  publishing  houses. 

Suggestions  Concerning  an  Educational  Standard 
for  a  Church  School  Which  Carries  on 
a  Unified  Program 

The  existing  Sunday-school  standards  have  been  criti¬ 
cized  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  of  this  chapter.  Before 
attempting  to  rebuild  a  standard  for  the  Sunday  school,  it 
would  be  well  to  consider  what  standards  ought  to  be  set 
for  the  church  school  as  a  whole.  The  following  items 
are  selected  because  they  seem  to  be  fundamentally  im¬ 
portant  and  because  an  adequate  care  for  them  has 
enabled  many  churches  to  put  their  educational  work  on 
a  basis  of  efficiency  heretofore  almost  unknown  in  religious 
education.  The  ten  items  are  first  listed,  then  each  is 
given  a  brief  description.  Succeeding  chapters  of  this 
book  will  deal  with  the  several  items  more  at  length. 

1.  Organization. 

2.  Administration  and  Supervision. 

3.  Curriculum. 

4.  Teaching  Force. 


68 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


5.  Physical  Conditions  Necessary  for  Successful  Teach¬ 
ing. 

6.  Relations  Between  the  Church  School  and  Its  Con¬ 
stituency. 

7.  The  Central  Program  of  Information,  Worship,  and 
Expression. 

8.  The  Program  of  Cooperation  with  the  Home. 

9.  Relations  with  Other  Denominational  and  Inter¬ 
denominational  Agencies. 

10.  Definite  Results. 

Under  these  ten  items  will  be  grouped  the  elements  of 
a  unified  program  of  religious  education  for  the  individual 
church.  Churches  are  finding  the  elements  listed  necessary 
for  doing  their  educational  task  in  the  best  way.  The 
items  are,  of  course,  not  all  of  equal  importance,  but  the 
ten  points  will  give  us  a  working  outline  through  which 
we  may  hope  to  make  some  progress  toward  the  setting 
up  of  a  more  detailed  standard. 

1.  Organization.  This  item  includes  all  matters 
pertaining  to  the  arrangement  of  departments,  the  organ¬ 
ization  of  classes,  teachers’  associations,  et  cetera.  It 
should  be  kept  in  mind  that  the  plans  for  organization  run 
through  the  whole  educational  program  of  the  church. 
The  departments  are  the  same  for  Sunday  school,  ex- 
pressional  organization,  week-day  church  school,  mission¬ 
ary  society,  and  every  such  agency.  Certain  pupils 
make  up  a  church-school  department,  and  these  groupings 
are  the  foundation  for  all  educational  and  social  and 
recreational  agencies  of  the  church. 

2.  Administration  and  supervision.  This  item  has 
to  do  with  the  governing  body  which  the  church  sets  up 
for  carrying  on  its  program  of  education.  It  is  concerned, 
too,  with  the  supervisory  organization  which  this  govern¬ 
ing  body  creates  as  its  executive  agency  for  carrying  out 
the  plans  it  formulates.  It  would  include  such  matters, 


NEW  STANDARDS  NEEDED 


69 


therefore,  as  the  Church  Council  of  Religious  Education 
and  its  various  committees,  the  Director  of  Religious 
Education  and  the  system  of  superintendents  through 
which  the  Director  carries  on  his  work. 

3.  Curriculum.  The  term  curriculum  includes  not 
only  the  lesson  materials  which  the  church  school  uses, 
but  also  all  the  activities  which  the  church  school  carries 
on  as  a  part  of  its  educational  program.  This  item  of  the 
standard  should  determine  what  subject  matter  is  to  go 
into  the  lessons  taught,  how  it  is  to  be  arranged,  how  the 
essential  elements  of  the  teaching  process  are  to  be 
secured,  and  how  lesson  materials  are  to  be  made  avail¬ 
able  for  the  use  of  teachers  and  pupils. 

4.  Teaching  force.  Under  this  item  the  church 
should  set  up  its  statement  as  to  the  necessary  qualifica¬ 
tions  of  its  teachers.  The  item  should  also  include  a 
statement  of  the  agencies  which  the  church  employs  for 
improving  its  teaching  force  and  for  recruiting  workers, 
in  this  field  of  service. 

5.  Physical  conditions  necessary  for  successful 
teaching.  What  ought  the  church  to  provide  in  the 
way  of  housing  and  equipment  for  the  church  school? 
This  item  of  the  standard  ought  to  answer  the  preceding 
question.  It  might  well  contain  also  some  statement 
concerning  the  general  financial  support  the  church  ought 
to  give  the  church  school. 

6.  Relations  between  the  church  school  and  its 
constituency.  This  item  would  deal  with  such  funda¬ 
mentally  important  matters  as  the  church-school  enroll¬ 
ment,  the  average  attendance  of  teachers  and  pupils, 
punctuality,  orderly  conduct  on  the  part  of  pupils,  interest 
of  the  pupils  in  the  work  of  the  church  school,  and  general 
attitude  of  pupils  toward  the  school  and  the  church. 

7.  The  central  program  of  information,  worship, 
and  expression.  The  central  program  of  a  church 


70 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


school  consists  in  its  work  of  instruction,  training  in 
worship,  and  expressional  activities  carried  on  with  the 
pupils  of  the  Sunday  school,  week-day  church  school, 
vacation  Bible  school,  and  expressional  organizations. 
This  item  would  set  up  standards  concerning  the  co¬ 
operation  of  the  agencies  named  and  their  provisions  for 
carrying  out  their  respective  parts  of  this  central  educa¬ 
tional  program  of  the  church  school. 

8.  The  program  of  cooperation  with  the  home. 
Besides  its  central  program  of  information,  worship,  and 
expression,  the  efficient  church  school  will  carry  on  at  least 
two  other  programs  of  great  importance.  It  will  be 
engaged  in  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  its  educational 
work  and  it  will  be  carrying  on  a  program  of  cooperation 
with  the  homes  of  its  constituency  in  which  the  whole 
educational  environment  of  the  child  is  so  molded  as  to 
make  the  development  of  religious  character  assured. 
The  teacher-training  program  has  already  been  mentioned 
as  coming  under  the  general  item  in  which  the  teaching 
force  of  the  church  school  is  standardized.  The  elements 
of  a  successful  program  of  cooperation  between  the  church 
school  and  the  home  would  be  stated  under  the  present 
item.  Here  would  be  listed  matters  pertaining  to  the 
Home  Department,  the  Cradle  Roll,  parents’  classes,  and 
parent-teacher  associations. 

9.  Relations  with  other  denominational  and  in¬ 
terdenominational  agencies.  It  is  generally  conceded 
that  the  individual  church  school  should  cooperate  with 
its  own  denomination  and  with  interdenominational 
educational  agencies.  The  religious  educational  problem 
can  hardly  be  solved  without  some  such  cooperation.  It 
is  the  task  of  this  item,  therefore,  to  state  what  relations 
should  exist  between  the  individual  church  school  and  all 
other  religious  educational  agencies. 

10.  Definite  results.  What  educational  and  spiritual 


NEW  STANDARDS  NEEDED 


71 


results  ought  the  church  school  to  accomplish?  How  far 
short  of  these  results  ought  a  church  school  to  fall  and  yet 
be  ranked  as  a  standard  school?  In  this  item  the  church 
would  formulate  its  statements  answering  the  preceding 
questions. 

Having  thus  briefly  outlined  the  subjects  with  which 
the  ten  points  of  the  standard  ought  to  deal,  we  will  in 
succeeding  chapters  take  up  these  items  of  the  standard 
in  a  more  detailed  way,  reserving  the  last  chapter  of  the 
book  for  the  consideration  of  a  thousand-point  standard 
for  the  educational  program  of  an  individual  church 


CHAPTER  V 

Organizing  the  Foundations 


CHAPTER  V 

Organizing  the  Foundations 

THE  organization  of  the  educational  program  of  an 
individual  church  is  the  foundation  on  which  the 
church  builds  its  plans  for  discharging  its  teaching  func¬ 
tion.  Organization  is  important  because  foundations  are 
important.  A  weak  or  faulty  organization  for  the  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  of  a  church  will  give  way  under  the  weight 
of  an  extensive  educational  program.  A  strong  and  well- 
planned  organization  gives  security  and  strength  to  all 
the  educational  agencies  of  a  church. 

Warnings  against  overorganization  are  common,  and 
it  is  true  that  there  are  certain  dangers  of  this  kind  which 
it  is  well  to  avoid.  Nevertheless,  what  passes  for  over¬ 
organization  is  often  something  of  quite  another  kind. 
The  fact  that  church  organizations  fail  to  function  is  no 
sure  sign  that  the  church  is  overorganized.  The  fault 
usually  lies  with  administration  and  supervision  rather 
than  with  organization.  The  individual  church  usually 
needs  all  the  organization  it  has,  but  often  lacks  the 
administrative  and  supervisory  force  and  the  leadership 
for  keeping  its  organizations  in  continuous  and  successful 
operation.  The  remedy  in  this  case  will  not  be  found  in 
curtailing  organization,  but  in  strengthening  the  phases 
of  the  church  program  which  are  really  at  fault. 

What  passes  for  overorganization  is  often  really  faulty 
organization.  The  church  does  not  often  have  more 
organizations  than  it  needs,  but  it  does  often  have  a 
medley  of  unrelated,  overlapping,  competing,  and  semi¬ 
independent  organizations.  Sometimes  the  situation  is 
further  complicated  by  the  fact  that  many  of  these  organi- 

75 


76 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


zations  have  loyalties  to  outside  agencies  which  compete 
with  their  loyalties  to  the  church  with  which  they  are 
connected.  The  remedy  for  this  fault  may  require  the 
elimination  of  certain  organizations  which  overlap  one 
another  and  compete  with  one  another,  but  the  larger 
remedy  lies  in  the  creation  of  a  church  system  in  which 
each  organization  will  take  its  place  in  an  orderly  arrange¬ 
ment,  with  its  own  particular  task  clearly  outlined  and 
its  relationships  to  other  organizations  made  plain. 


A  Plan  of  Organization  for  the  Sunday  School 
Which  Has  Been  Found  to  Be  Helpful 

Sunday  schools  have  for  some  years  been  experimenting 
with  different  forms  of  organization.  During  these  years 
of  experimentation  there  has  been  a  steady  movement  to¬ 
ward  setting  up  departments  and  making  these  depart¬ 
ments  the  primary  units  in  the  educational  work  of  the 
church.  Perhaps  the  best  form  of  Sunday-school  organiza¬ 
tion  yet  evolved  is  as  follows: 


DEPARTMENTAL  ORGANIZATION  FOR  A  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


1.  Cradle  Roll 

2.  Beginners 

3.  Primary 

4.  Junior 

5.  Intermediate 

6.  Senior 

7.  Young  People’s 

8.  Adult 

9.  Home  Department 

10.  Normal  Department 
In  some  of  the  larger  schools  it  is  found  helpful  to  group 

certain  departments  into  divisions  for  administrative 
purposes.  When  this  is  done  some  such  plan  as  the  follow¬ 
ing  is  usually  adopted: 


Birth  to  3  years 
4  and  5  years 
0,  7,  and  8  years 
9,  10,  and  11  years 
12,  13,  and  14  years 
15,  16,  and  17  years 
18  to  23  years 
24  vears  and  over 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


77 


1.  The  Children’s  Division. 

Cradle  Roll,  Beginners,  Primary,  and  Junior 
departments. 

2.  The  Young  People’s  Division. 

Intermediate,  Senior,  and  Young  People’s  De¬ 
partments. 

3.  The  Adult  Division. 

Adult,  Normal,  and  Home  Departments. 

Within  this  general  scheme  of  organization  most 
Sunday  schools  include  a  more  or  less  complete  system 
of  class  organizations.  The  present  tendency,  however, 
is  to  center  the  activities  in  the  department  rather  than 
in  the  individual  class.  This  is  especially  true  of  all 
departments  below  the  Intermediate.  Many  denomina¬ 
tions  recommend  the  formation  of  class  organizations  in 
the  Intermediate  Department  and  above,  but  not  in  the 
departments  below  the  Intermediate.  Some  Sunday 
schools  likewise  separate  their  boys  and  girls  for  club 
activities,  and  for  this  purpose  create  a  Junior  boys’ 
club,  a  Junior  girls’  club,  an  Intermediate  boys’  club, 
and  an  Intermediate  girls’  club. 

This  general  scheme  of  organization  has  proved  so 
helpful  in  Sunday  schools  that  it  is  being  taken  over  with 
some  modifications  as  the  organization  plan  for  a  unified 
educational  program  by  churches  seeking  to  bring  their 
educational  work  into  an  orderly  system.  The  new 
program  of  religious  education  for  the  individual  church 
is  being  built  on  a  plan  of  organization  fundamentally 
similar,  therefore,  to  the  plan  of  organization  which  has 
been  found  most  helpful  in  the  Sunday  school. 

An  examination  of  the  ten  departments  named  in  the 
Sunday-school  plan  of  organization  reveals  the  fact  that 
they  are  not  all  coordinate.  They  fall  naturally  into 
three  groups.  The  departments  from  the  Beginners  to 
the  Adult  include  a  group  who  are  under  the  teaching  of 


78 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


the  church  in  a  peculiar  sense.  They  comprise  the 
people  for  whom  the  central  educational  program  of  the 
church  is  planned  and  operated.  The  Cradle  Roll  and 
the  Home  Department  have  to  do  with  people  not  so 
intimately  connected  with  the  church  school  as  the  group 
we  have  just  mentioned.  They  are  touched  in  their 
homes  by  a  program  of  cooperation  which  the  church 
school  maintains  with  the  home.  The  Normal  Depart¬ 
ment  forms  a  third  group  composed  of  the  people  whom 
the  church  school  is  training  for  teaching  and  other  types 
of  religious  educational  leadership. 

Based  on  the  Sunday-school  plan  we  have  been  con¬ 
sidering,  and  on  the  three  types  of  educational  activity 
which  have  just  been  pointed  out,  the  new  program  of 
religious  education  is  being  built  in  some  such  way  as  is 
indicated  in  the  following  outline: 

Plan  of  Organization  for  a  Church  School  Which 

Carries  on  a  Unified  Program  of  Education 
for  the  Individual  Church 

I.  The  main  program  of  information,  worship, 
and  expression. 

A.  The  Beginners  Department,  Ages  4  and  5. 

An  organized  staff;  superintendent,  assistant 
superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

B.  The  Primary  Department.  Ages  6,  7,  and  8. 

An  organized  staff;  superintendent,  assistant 
superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

C.  The  Junior  Department.  Ages  9,  10,  and  11. 

1.  An  organized  staff;  superintendent,  assist¬ 

ant  superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

2.  An  organized  student  body;  president, 

vice  president,  secretary,  and  other 
officers. 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


79 


a.  A  Junior  boys’  club;  officers,  com¬ 
mittees,  etc. 

b.  A  Junior  girls’  club;  officers,  com¬ 
mittees,  etc. 

D.  The  Intermediate  Department.  Ages  12,  13,  and 

14. 

1.  An  organized  staff;  superintendent,  assist¬ 

ant  superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

2.  An  organized  student  body;  president,  vice 

president,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 

a.  An  Intermediate  boys’ club;  officers, 
committees,  etc. 

b.  An  Intermediate  girls’  club;  officers, 
committees,  etc. 

E.  The  Senior  Department.  Ages  15,  16,  and  17. 

1 .  An  organized  staff ;  superintendent,  assistant 

superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

2.  An  organized  student  body;  president,  vice 

president,  secretary  and  other  officers. 
Organized  classes;  president,  vice  presi¬ 
dent,  secretary  and  other  officers. 

F.  The  Young  People’s  Department.  Ages  18  to  23. 

1.  An  organized  staff ;  superintendent,  assistant 

superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

2.  An  organized  student  body;  president,  vice 

president,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 
Organized  classes;  president,  vice  presi¬ 
dent,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 

G.  The  Adult  Department.  Ages  24  and  over. 

1 .  An  organized  staff ;  superintendent,  assistant 

superintendent,  secretary,  teachers. 

2.  An  organized  student  body;  president,  vice 

president,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 
Organized  classes;  president,  vice  presi¬ 
dent,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 


80 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


II.  The  program  of  cooperation  with  the  home. 

A.  The  Cradle  Roll.  Birth  to  3  years. 

An  organized  staff :  superintendent,  assistants, 
visitors. 

B.  The  Home  Department. 

1.  An  organized  staff:  superintendent,  assist¬ 

ants,  visitors. 

2.  An  organized  student  body:  president,  vice 

president,  secretary,  and  other  officers. 

C.  Parent’s  Classes. 

Organized  with  president,  teacher,  and  other 
officers. 

D.  Parent-Teacher  Association. 

Organized  with  officers,  committees,  etc. 

III.  The  program  of  leadership  training. 

A.  A  Normal  School  for  Present  Teachers. 

Organized  staff:  superintendent,  instructors, 
etc. 

B.  A  Normal  School  for  Prospective  Teachers. 

Organized  staff:  superintendent,  inspectors, 
etc. 

(This  plan  is  shown  in  graphic  form  on  page  81) 

Advantages  of  the  Proposed  Plan  of  Organization 

The  scheme  which  has  just  been  outlined  is  not  a  theoret¬ 
ical  projection  of  what  the  writer  thinks  a  church  plan  of 
organization  for  religious  education  ought  to  be.  Every 
feature  of  it  is  in  successful  operation  in  some  church.  It 
is  recommended  because  the  different  parts  of  it  have 
been  helpful  beyond  other  plans  which  have  been  proposed 
and  tried.  On  the  basis  of  experience  and  demonstrated 
worth,  valid  claims  can  be  made  for  it. 

In  large  churches  the  plan  tends  to  reduce  the  number 


Chart  III 


PLAN  OF  ORGANIZATION  FOR  A  CHURCH  SCHOOL  WHICH 
CARRIES  ON  A  UNIFIED  PROGRAM  OF  RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION  FOR  AN  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH 


I 


82  A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 

of  organizations.  It  accomplishes  this  end  by  encourag¬ 
ing  for  the  lower  grades,  departmental  organization  and 
departmental  activities  instead  of  class  organization  and 
class  activities.  It  substitutes  for  the  many  similar 
clubs  in  some  churches  one  departmental  club  for  boys 
and  one  for  girls  in  the  Junior  Department  and  also  one 
club  for  each  sex  in  the  Intermediate  Department.  This 
is  the  great  club-forming  age  and  in  some  churches  the 
organization  of  the  educational  program  is  overburdened 
by  the  number  of  clubs  at  this  point.  By  bringing  ex- 
pressional  organizations  such  as  the  Christian  Endeavor 
societies  into  line  with  departmental  organization  it  does 
away  with  the  need  for  a  separate  organization  for  ex- 
pressional  work.  The  Christian  Endeavor  societies  are 
fused  with  the  departmental  students’  organizations. 
Fully  organized  on  this  plan,  a  church  would  have  a 
Junior  Christian  Endeavor,  an  Intermediate  Christian 
Endeavor,  a  Senior  Christian  Endeavor,  and  a  Young 
People’s  Christian  Endeavor,  but  these  organizations 
would  be  the  same  as  the  students’  departmental  organiza¬ 
tions.  Christian  Endeavor  meetings  would  be  simply  the 
students’  departmental  organizations  meeting  for  expres- 
sional  work  based  on  the  information  and  incentives 
imparted  by  other  sessions  of  the  church  school. 

By  introducing  a  uniform  classification  of  pupils,  the 
plan  removes  confusion  and  misspent  effort  from  the 
educative  process.  The  term  “Intermediate”  is  given 
the  same  meaning  in  all  the  phases  of  the  school’s  activity. 
It  no  longer  means  young  people  from  twelve  to  fourteen 
years  of  age  in  the  Sunday  school  and  young  people  from 
twelve  to  eighteen  years  of  age  in  the  expressional  organiza¬ 
tions.  Such  a  lack  of  alignment  between  different  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  means  something  more  serious  than  a 
confusion  in  speech.  It  means  confused  effort.  It 
means  one  group  of  religious  teachers  trying  to  give  a 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


83 


certain  phase  of  religious  education  to  a  certain  group  of 
pupils  and  another  group  of  religious  teachers  trying  to 
give  another  and  supplementary  phase  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  to  these  same  pupils,  but  in  a  group  arrangement 
quite  different  from  the  first,  because  it  contains  many 
pupils  who  were  not  in  the  first  group  and  who  differ  in 
age  and  experience  from  the  members  of  the  first  group. 
The  result  is  a  broken  and  ineffective  effort  to  carry  on 
the  educative  process. 

Another  of  the  advantages  of  the  plan  is  its  alignment 
with  public-school  organization.  Many  cities  and  states 
are  forming  junior  high  schools.  Where  this  is  done  the 
Intermediate  Department  of  the  church  school  corresponds 
with  the  junior  high-school  grades  and  the  Senior  Depart¬ 
ment  of  the  church  school  with  the  senior  high-school 
grades.  This  is  a  matter  of  considerable  importance 
when  public-school  time  is  granted  to  the  churches  for 
the  giving  of  religious  instruction.  It  likewise  makes  it 
possible  to  work  out  a  plan  whereby  the  church-school 
curriculum  and  the  public-school  curriculum  can  be 
correlated. 

The  plan  furnishes  a  systematic  basis  for  the  whole 
educational  program  of  the  individual  church.  Every 
phase  of  the  task  can  be  done  more  effectively  when  it  is 
carried  on  under  such  a  plan  than  it  can  when  different 
portions  of  the  task  are  being  attempted  separately.  An 
effective  educational  program  must  be  like  a  well-organized 
army,  which  is  made  up  of  different  units  of  infantry, 
artillery,  cavalry,  and  air  forces.  Each  of  these  portions 
of  the  army  has  its  own  task  but  each  works  in  harmony 
with  all  others  and  the  main  objectives  are  common  to  all. 

One  of  the  most  important  improvements  made  possible 
by  the  plan  lies  in  the  fact  that  when  it  is  put  in  operation, 
the  expressional  organizations  are  given  a  definite  place 
in  the  program  of  the  church  with  a  task  which  is  peculiarly 


84 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


their  own.  They  thus  cease  to  be  regarded  as  electives 
and  become  so  important  that  they  can  gather  into  their 
meetings  all  the  children  and  young  people  to  whom  the 
church  ministers,  whereas  under  the  old  plan  of  indepen¬ 
dent  or  semi-independent  expressional  organizations  it 
was  found  almost  impossible  to  provide  suitable  ex¬ 
pressional  work  for  all  the  pupils  of  the  church  school, 
because  they  looked  upon  the  expressional  organizations 
as  nonessential  and  unrelated  to  the  general  program  of 
education  which  the  church  was  carrying  on. 

The  Plan  in  Operation 

* 

Perhaps  the  best  way  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the  plan  we 
have  been  discussing  would  be  to  try  to  picture  to  our¬ 
selves  a  church  school  operating  under  the  form  of  organi¬ 
zation  which  has  been  outlined  in  preceding  paragraphs. 
In  order  to  accomplish  this  we  should  need  to  do  nothing 
more  than  gather  together  what  certain  churches  are 
doing  and  imagine  that  some  individual  church  had  laid 
hold  on  some  of  the  “best  things”  which  other  churches 
were  doing  and  had  combined  them  into  a  unified  program 
of  its  own. 

1.  The  central  program  of  information,  worship, 
and  expression.  The  church  has,  as  we  have  said, 
laid  hold  on  the  best  things  other  churches  are  doing; 
therefore  it  has  a  week-day  school.  It  carries  on  this 
school  as  an  integral  part  of  its  educational  program. 
There  is  an  arrangement  with  the  public  schools  whereby 
pupils  of  the  Primary,  Junior,  Intermediate,  and  Senior 
Departments  of  the  church  school  are  dismissed  from  the 
public  schools  at  certain  hours  so  that  they  may  receive  re¬ 
ligious  instruction  under  the  care  of  the  church.  The  week¬ 
day  classes  are  taught  by  trained  and  paid  teachers.  These 
classes  are  a  part  of  the  church  school  which  this  particular 
church  is  carrying  on  and,  together  with  the  Sunday  and 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


85 


expressional  meetings,  they  constitute  a  real  school.  The 
course  of  study  is  graded.  The  school  is  comfortably 
housed  and  adequately  equipped. 

In  the  week-day  session  of  the  church  school,  the  pupils 
receive  one  hour  of  religious  instruction.  The  imparting 
of  information  is  the  main  objective  of  the  session,  but  it 
is  not  the  exclusive  aim.  There  is  a  period  of  worship  in 
every  department.  There  is  handwork  suited  to  the 
lesson.  There  are  frequent  reviews  in  all  departments 
and  written  examinations  in  the  higher  grades. 

After  receiving  one  hour  of  instruction,  the  pupils 
return  to  the  public  schools  to  complete  their  work  for 
the  day.  They  are  not  penalized  for  their  attendance  at 
the  church  school  as  is  the  case  when  they  must  go  to  the 
church  for  religious  instruction  after  the  close  of  the  public 
schools  and  thus  give  up  their  recreation  time  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  religious  truth.  They  look  on  the 
church  school  as  the  peer  of  the  public  school  and  engaged 
in  a  task  for  which  the  best  time  of  the  whole  day  ought 
to  be  reserved. 

The  high-school  pupils  receive  credit  toward  graduation 
for  the  work  they  accomplish  in  the  church  school.  Ele¬ 
mentary-grade  pupils  are  not  required  to  make  up  any¬ 
thing  they  may  miss  from  the  public-school  program 
while  attending  the  church  school.  Thus  they,  too,  in  a 
way,,  receive  credit.  The  public-school  authorities  re¬ 
ceive  monthly  reports  from  the  church  school  and  each 
pupil’s  standing  in  the  church  school  is  recorded  on  the 
pupil’s  public-school  report  card. 

When  Sunday  morning  comes,  the  pupils  of  the  church 
school  gather  in  the  Sunday  school,  which  has  now  be¬ 
come  the  Sunday  session  of  the  church  school.  They 
have  a  lesson  following  naturally  after  the  week-day 
church-school  lesson  and  growing  out  of  it.  The  Sunday 
lessons  have  been  chosen  whenever  possible  with  a  view 


86 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


to  their  fitness  for  developing  a  spirit  of  worship  and 
reverence.  Information  is  not  excluded  from  the  Sunday 
session,  but  the  main  emphasis  is  on  the  spirit  and  the 
forms  of  worship.  There  are  prayers  in  the  class  recita¬ 
tion — some  by  the  teacher,  others  by  the  pupils.  The 
opening  service  of  each  department  is  a  period  of  real 
worship.  The  classes  study  some  of  the  great  hymns  of 
the  Church  and  learn  to  sing  them  with  understanding. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  or  evening  the  pupils  of  the 
Junior,  Intermediate,  and  Senior  Departments  gather  in 
expressional  or  Christian  Endeavor  meetings.  They  have 
topics  for  discussion  and  these  topics  are  such  as 
grow  naturally  out  of  their  week-day  and  Sunday  lesson. 
They  discuss  the  problems  involved  in  the  application  of 
the  truths  they  have  studied  to  their  own  lives.  Com¬ 
mittees  are  appointed  to  plan  for  departmental  activities 
in  the  community  social  service  and  other  like  under¬ 
takings.  These  expressional  meetings  belong  to  the 
pupils  in  a  peculiar  way.  They  carry  on  the  meeting 
under  the  care  of  the  superintendent,  one  pupil  presiding. 
They  learn  self-expression  and  spiritual  initiative. 

During  the  week  there  may  be  a  business  meeting  of 
some  one  of  the  departmental  students’  organizations.  A 
boys’  club  may  meet,  or  it  may  be  the  week  when  the 
girls’  club  of  some  department  has  an  hour  in  the  church 
gymnasium.  Possibly  a  hike  has  been  planned,  or  some 
departmental  athletic  team  is  to  meet  a  team  from  some 
neighboring  church.  Thus  the  correlated  program  of 
information,  worship,  and  expression  goes  on  among  the 
pupils  of  the  departments  we  have  named. 

Similar  activities  are  going  on  in  departments  above  the 
Senior,  except  that  pupils  of  these  departments  do  not 
have  a  week-day  session  and  they  are  organized,  for  the 
most  part,  not  only  into  departmental  units,  but  also 
into  smaller  units  based  upon  the  Sunday-school  class. 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


87 


When  the  end  of  the  public-school  year  has  been 
reached,  the  church  will  still  further  strengthen  its  central 
program  by  the  organization  of  a  daily  vacation  Bible 
school  with  a  program  of  instruction  and  play  activities 
which  will  not  repeat  but  supplement  the  educational 
work  which  has  been  carried  on  in  the  three-hour-a-week 
program.  In  the  vacation  school  there  will  be  classes  for 
all  departments  up  to  and  including  the  Intermediate. 

2.  The  program  of  cooperation  with  the  home.  In 
the  meantime  other  phases  of  educational  work  have  been 
going  on  under  the  care  of  the  church-school  supervisor 
and  his  corps  of  helpers.  Visitors  of  the  Cradle  Roll 
Department  have  visited  many  homes  where  there  are 
children  under  three  years  of  age.  They  have  secured 
new  names  for  the  roll  which  hangs  in  the  Beginners 
Room,  but  they  have  not  ceased  their  efforts  with  the 
securing  of  a  few  names.  They  have  talked  with  mothers 
about  ways  and  means  of  caring  for  the  physical  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  their  children,  during  the  days  of 
infancy.  These  Cradle  Roll  visitors  take  their  work 
seriously  and  they  are  among  the  most  important  and 
useful  workers  of  the  church.  They  have  left  behind 
them  in  the  homes  which  they  have  visited,  little  gifts 
which  bind  home  and  church  together  in  bonds  of  sym¬ 
pathy.  Here  the  gift  was  a  dainty  birthday  card;  there 
it  was  a  pair  of  little  bootees  for  some  baby  who  had  just 
arrived.  They  have  talked  about  the  mothers’  and 
babies’  party  which  is  to  be  given  at  no  distant  date. 

Home  Department  visitors  have  been  at  work.  They 
have  arranged  with  the  pastor  for  a  series  of  Sunday¬ 
morning  sermons  to  be  given  on  the  subject  of  religion  in 
the  home.  They  have  talked  over  the  Home  Depart¬ 
ment  Sunday-school  lesson  with  busy  housewives.  They 
have  talked  about  the  family  altar  and  how  to  set  it  up 
in  the  home.  They  have  distributed  literature  dealing 


88 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


with  the  problems  which  parents  face  in  maintaining  a 
Christian  family  life  and  in  rearing  children  to  useful 
adulthood.  These  helpers  of  the  pastor  and  servants  of  the 
church  have  been  forging  links  in  a  chain  of  sympathy  which 
binds  the  church  to  the  community  in  which  it  is  located. 

Parents’  classes  have  met  and  discussed  the  problems  of 
parents.  They  have  been  led  by  an  expert  in  child  psy¬ 
chology  and  religious  pedagogy.  There  has  been  a 
meeting  of  the  Parent-Teacher  Association  and  the 
parents  of  the  church-school  pupils  and  the  teachers  of 
the  church-school  pupils  have  become  better  acquainted 
with  one  another.  Parents  have  gained  a  new  interest  in 
the  work  of  the  church,  and  the  church-school  teachers 
have  been  better  fitted  for  their  work  by  becoming  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  parents  and  the  home  circumstances  of 
their  pupils. 

3.  The  program  of  leadership  training.  During 

the  week  or  at  the  Sunday-school  hour  the  church  training 
school  has  held  one  of  its  sessions.  There  have  been 
courses  in  Bible,  in  psychology,  in  religious  pedagogy,  in 
Church  history,  and  in  the  administration  of  religious 
educational  agencies.  There  have  been  courses  for  those 
already  engaged  in  church-school-teaching  and  courses 
for  prospective  teachers.  Those  who  are  already  teach¬ 
ing  have  caught  new  visions  of  the  greatness  of  their  task 
and  those  who  have  never  taught  as  yet  have  gained  in 
their  fitness  for  the  teaching  ministry  of  the  Church. 

The  church  is  exercising  forethought.  There  is  no 
dearth  of  teachers  for  its  church-school  classes.  There  is 
a  considerable  waiting  list  composed  of  those  who  have 
offered  to  teach,  but  who  must  wait  until  some  vacancy 
occurs  in  the  teaching  force.  The  church  has  made 
common-sense  preparation  for  the  meeting  of  a  known 
need,  and  consequently  its  lamps  are  not  found  to  be 
going  out  in  the  hour  of  supreme  opportunity. 


ORGANIZING  THE  FOUNDATIONS 


89 


And  so  the  educational  work  of  this  church  goes  on 
week  after  week.  Its  program  is  varied,  but  unified. 
There  is  a  wise  division  of  labor  which  eliminates  over¬ 
lappings  and  misunderstandings  and  waste  of  labor.  The 
church  has  a  plan,  an  organization,  a  foundation  on  which 
it  can  build  without  having  its  house  continually  tumbling 
down.  The  church  knows  what  it  is  trying  to  do,  and 
what  is  necessary  if  its  efforts  are  to  be  fruitful.  It  has 
definite  goals.  It  knows  how  many  children  and  young 
people  there  are  in  the  community,  how  many  are  outside 
of  any  religious  school,  and  how  many  the  church  ought 
to  count  among  its  constituency.  It  feels  responsibility 
for  reaching  and  helping  all  who  are  in  spiritual  darkness. 
It  aims  to  gather  in  all  the  children  and  youth  who  can 
rightfully  be  claimed  as  a  part  of  its  constituency. 

A  church  carrying  on  a  program  such  as  has  been 
pictured  has  an  organized  program,  but  it  has  something 
else.  A  good  organization  helps  to  make  such  church 
activities  possible,  but  there  must  also  be  an  administra¬ 
tive  force  somewhere  behind  the  activities  serving  as  their 
guide  and  their  inspiration.  An  able  administrative 
force  functioning  through  an  equally  able  supervisory 
agency  as  its  executive  branch  is  the  second  important 
item  in  a  church  program  of  education  that  is  dynamic 
and  effective.  We  shall  hear  more  of  this  aspect  of  the 
matter  in  the  next  chapter. 


' 


CHAPTER  VI 


Setting  up  the 

Necessary  Administrative  Machinery 


CHAPTER  VI 

Setting  up  the  Necessary  Administrative  Machinery 


MODIFICATIONS  of  the  plan  of  organization  sug¬ 
gested  in  the  preceding  chapter  and  certain  changes 
in  the  plan  of  administration  to  be  set  forth  in  the  present 
chapter  will  doubtless  have  to  be  made  in  churches  enroll¬ 
ing  less  than  two  hundred  members  in  the  Sunday  school. 
These  modifications  need  not  be  such  as  to  hinder  seriously 
the  general  scheme,  even  in  the  smaller  churches.  The 
principles  laid  down  need  not  be  sacrificed.  Certain 
departments  may  have  to  meet  together  because  of  lack 
of  suitable  rooms  for  holding  separate  sessions,  and  other 
like  adjustments  will  doubtless  need  to  be  made.  It  is 
believed  that  every  church  can  have  and  ought  to  have 
the  general  administrative  features  to  be  set  forth  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

A  lack  of  administration  and  supervision  has  charac¬ 
terized  the  educational  undertakings  of  the  Church. 
Sometimes  this  lack  has  been  well-nigh  total,  in  so  far  as 
supervision  is  concerned,  and  often  the  only  administra¬ 
tive  activity  has  consisted  in  an  annual  meeting  of  the 
teachers  and  officers  of  the  Sunday  school  to  elect  officers. 
The  Sunday-school  superintendent  has  all  too  often  done 
no  supervising  whatever  of  teachers  and  instruction.  He 
has  been  only  a  presiding  officer  for  the  “opening  exer¬ 
cises”  and  a  kind  of  handy  man  for  such  tasks  as  the 
securing  of  teachers  for  teacherless  classes  when  the  Sun¬ 
day  gathering  has  shown  that  the  teaching  force  is  de¬ 
pleted. 

The  failure  of  the  Church  to  recognize  the  Sunday  school 
as  the  teaching  session  of  the  Church  and  to  give  this 

93 


Chart  IV 


ADMINISTRATION  AND  SUPERVISION  OF  A  CHURCH  SCHOOL  WHICH 
CARRIES  ON  A  UNIFIED  PROGRAM  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDU¬ 
CATION  FOR  AN  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH 


SETTING  UP  ADMINISTRATIVE  MACHINERY  95 


teaching  session  adequate  supervision  has  resulted  in 
some  unfortunate  conditions  in  many  congregations.  It 
has  led  to  a  semi-independence,  or  sometimes  to  a  total 
independence,  of  the  Sunday  school.  The  Sunday  school 
manages  its  own  affairs,  elects  its  own  officers,  chooses  its 
own  teachers,  raises  its  own  funds,  and  decides  every  detail 
of  its  program  without  consulting  the  church  in  any  way. 
Possibly  it  reports  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  church 
something  of  its  activities  for  the  year  that  is  past  and  in 
rare  cases  lays  before  this  meeting  something  of  its  plans 
for  the  future.  The  governing  board  of  the  church  has  in 
most  cases  a  kind  of  hazy  relationship  to  the  Sunday  school 
and  nominally  the  acts  of  the  Sunday  school  are  subject 
to  approval  by  the  governing  board,  but  in  reality  the  two 
have  almost  nothing  to  do  with  each  other.  Sometimes 
when  the  governing  board  of  such  a  church  undertakes 
to  establish  some  sort  of  authority  over  the  Sunday  school, 
there  is  trouble.  The  Sunday  school  has  become  accus¬ 
tomed  to  independence.  Why  should  some  other  body 
claim  authority  over  a  phase  of  church  work  which  it  does 
not  help  to  finance?  Sometimes  the  members  of  the  govern¬ 
ing  board  are  ignorant  concerning  fundamental  matters 
of  religious  education. 

Many  churches  have  found  a  happy  solution  of  these 
problems  by  creating  a  body  which  is  to  have  as  its  one 
task  the  administration  of  religious  education  in  the 
church.  The  task  is  important  enough  to  entitle  it  to 
such  a  recognition.  This  body  has  usually  been  called 
the  church  council  of  religious  education.  Such  a  council 
is  helpful,  even  when  the  church  does  little  in  the  way  of 
religious  education  besides  conducting  a  Sunday  school. 
It  becomes  a  necessity  for  churches  which  have  come  to  see 
their  educational  work  as  one  task  and  which  have  de¬ 
termined  to  bring  some  sort  of  unity  into  a  somewhat 
chaotic  situation. 


96 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


The  Church  Council  of  Religious  Education 

On  page  94  is  a  graphic  representation  of  the  administra¬ 
tive  and  supervisory  scheme  .for  a  church  school  which 
carries  on  a  unified  program  of  religious  education  for  an 
individual  church.  A  glance  at  this  chart  will  reveal  the 
fact  that  the  church  council  of  religious  education  is  the 
administrative  agency  created  by  the  church  for  the 
efficient  carrying  on  of  its  educational  work.  It  is  the 
organ  through  which  the  church  functions  as  a  teaching 
force. 

1.  Constitution  of  the  council.  Such  a  council  is 
usually  made  up  of  representatives  from  the  governing 
board  of  the  church,  from  the  Sunday  school,  the  Young 
People’s  organizations,  the  missionary  societies,  and  all 
other  agencies  which  have  responsibility  for  a  part  of  the 
educational  task.  Chosen  for  their  interest  in  religious 
education  and  for  their  demonstrated  ability  in  carrying 
on  some  phase  of  educational  work,  such  a  body  is  qualified 
to  give  efficient  administrative  attention  to  the  teaching 
ministry  of  the  church.  Moreover,  since  this  is  their  one 
task,  they  can  give  it  their  undivided  attention  and  can 
be  held  responsible  for  its  success. 

2.  Work  of  the  council.  The  council  usually  looks 
after  such  matters  as  the  securing  of  adequate  funds  for 
carrying  on  the  school  of  the  church.  This  is  best  done 
by  putting  the  church-school  expenses  into  the  general 
budget  of  the  church.  Where  this  is  done,  the  council 
still  has  the  task  of  determining  the  detailed  items  of  the 
educational  budget  of  the  church  and  of  presenting  this 
budget  to  the  church  meeting  and  of  securing  its  adoption. 
An  important  task  of  the  council  is  the  making  of  surveys 
which  will  reveal  the  religious  educational  conditions  of 
the  community  which  the  church  is  seeking  to  serve  and 
which  shows  the  church  its  definite  constituency. 


SETTING  UP  ADMINISTRATIVE  MACHINERY  97 


3.  Committees  of  the  council.  Church  councils 
usually  carry  on  much  of  their  work  through  committees. 
Some  of  the  committees  commonly  formed  are  indicated 
below: 

a.  Committee  on  the  selection  of  teachers.  This 
committee  has  charge  of  the  task  of  securing  suitable 
teachers  for  the  whole  educational  program  of  the  church. 
When  the  church  has  a  director  of  religious  education  it 
is  customary  for  this  official  to  nominate  teachers  to  this 
committee.  After  considering  the  qualifications  of  these 
prospective  teachers,  the  committee  makes  its  recommen¬ 
dations  to  the  council. 

b.  A  committee  on  surveys.  This  committee  has  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  the  gathering  of  information  concerning 
the,  religious  educational  conditions  in  the  community  as 
has  been  indicated  in  a  preceding  paragraph.  It  should 
give  to  the  council  accurate  and  detailed  information 
concerning  the  number  of  children  in  the  community  who 
are  receiving  religious  instruction  and  the  number  who 
are  outside  of  the  church  schools,  the  number  of  children 
and  youth  who  are  rightfully  considered  a  part  of  the 
constituency  of  the  church,  the  kind  of  educational  in¬ 
fluences  which  exist  in  the  community  in  the  form  of 
commercialized  amusements,  and  many  other  matters  of 
a  similar  character. 

c.  A  committee  on  housing  and  equipment.  This 
committee  is  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  securing 
for  the  church  school  suitable  rooms  and  suitable  equip¬ 
ment  for  carrying  on  educational  work  with  success. 
They  should  study  the  problem  of  religious  education 
from  this  viewpoint,  so  that  they  know  what  kind  of 
seating  arrangements  are  best  for  different  departments, 
what  floor  space  should  be  secured  for  each  pupil,  and  what 
equipment  is  needed  in  the  way  of  wall  maps,  sand  tables, 
stereopticons,  and  so  forth. 


98 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


d.  A  finance  committee.  The  work  of  this  committee 
has  already  been  mentioned  in  a  preceding  paragraph. 
It  is  usually  one  of  the  most  important  committees  of 
the  council  for  it  has  the  difficult  but  important  task  of 
raising  the  church  to  an  adequate  appreciation  of  the 
importance  of  religious  education,  to  a  genuine  apprecia¬ 
tion  which  will  express  itself  in  a  respectable  financial 
support  for  this  great  task. 

e.  A  curriculum  committee.  As  the  number  of  courses 
available  for  religious  instruction  is  rapidly  increasing,  the 
difficulty  of  selecting  the  best  course  for  any  church  is  corre¬ 
spondingly  increasing.  Every  church  should  have  a  body  of 
people  whose  business  it  is  to  familiarize  themselves  with 
curriculum  materials  intended  for  church-school  use.  Even 
after  a  course  of  study  is  chosen  by  the  council,  the  work 
of  a  curriculum  committee  is  not  ended.  It  would  still 
have  the  task  of  seeing  that  all  the  materials  of  the  cur¬ 
riculum  are  made  available  for  all  the  classes  and  that 
helpful  and  correlated  supplementary  work  is  provided. 

/.  A  committee  on  public-school  relations.  When  a 
church  undertakes  week-day  religious  instruction  it  is 
helpful  to  have  a  committee  which  represents  the  church 
in  its  dealings  with  the  public-school  authorities.  This 
committee  works  out  time  schedules  with  the  public- 
school  principals  and  supervisors,  determines  what 
credits  shall  be  given,  and  what  reports  of  church  school 
activities  are  to  be  given  to  the  public-school  authorities. 

g .  A  committee  on  grading  and  promotions.  This 
committee,  together  with  the  director  of  religious  edu¬ 
cation,  has  charge  of  all  matters  concerning  the  grad¬ 
ing  of  the  pupils  and  the  promotion  of  pupils  from  grade 
to  grade. 

h.  A  social  committee.  The  social  life  of  the  church 
school  is  one  of  its  chief  educational  influences.  The 
Social  Committee  of  the  council  usually  has  charge  of  all 


SETTING  UP  ADMINISTRATIVE  MACHINERY  99 


social  affairs,  such  as  picnics,  which  affect  the  church 
school  as  a  whole.  Subordinate  organizations  usually 
have  their  own  Social  Committees  for  the  planning  of 
such  matters  as  affect  their  own  members  only. 

i.  A  committee  on  interdenominational  relationships. 
An  individual  church  cannot  usually  do  its  own  edu¬ 
cational  task  well  without  entering  into  working  re¬ 
lations  with  churches  of  other  denominations.  Some¬ 
times  it  is  highly  desirable  that  certain  phases  of  leader¬ 
ship  training  be  undertaken  interdenominationally. 
There  are  agencies  like  the  Sunday  School  Associations 
which  are  helpful  to  all  denominations  and  which  churches 
of  all  denominations  ought  to  help  support.  These  inter¬ 
denominational  relationships  are  best  handled  when  the 
council  of  the  individual  church  has  a  committee  which 
makes  this  matter  its  particular  business.  This  committee 
finds  out  about  the  different  interdenominational  agencies 
and  recommends  for  support  and  for  cooperation  those 
of  evident  usefulness  and  demonstrated  ability. 

The  preceding  list  by  no  means  exhausts  the  number  of 
matters  which  can  profitably  be  referred  to  committee 
action  by  the  council.  The  list  is  intended  to  give  only 
some  of  the  outstanding  needs  and  to  name  the  committees 
which  practically  every  council  will  need.  Committees 
may,  of  course,  be  created  as  there  is  need  for  them. 

The  Director  of  Religious  Education 

The  work  of  supervising  the  educational  program  which 
it  has  planned  is  of  such  fundamental  importance  that  the 
church  council  needs  an  executive  officer  for  the  task. 
A  supervisor  or  director  of  religious  education  is  chosen 
and  given  the  task  of  carrying  into  execution  the  measures 
proposed  by  the  council.  This  task  is  one  of  utmost 
importance  and  its  opportunities  are  second  to  none  in 


100 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


the  whole  field  of  Christian  service.  It  ought  to  be  made 
possible  as  a  life  work  for  young  people  who  are  nobly 
longing  to  make  their  lives  count  most  for  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  Churches  that  are  able,  and  there  are  tens  of 
thousands  of  these  churches,  ought  to  employ  a  fully 
trained  director  of  religious  education  and  give  him  a 
living  wage.  Churches  that  cannot  afford  a  full-time 
director  ought  to  be  banded  together  in  such  a  way  that 
each  church  may  have  part  of  the  attention  of  a  full¬ 
time  director  supported  by  the  group.  If  it  can  do  no 
better,  a  church  should  secure  the  services  of  a  part-time 
director  of  its  own  and  pay  him  a  part-time  salary.  If  a 
church  really  cannot  pay  anything  for  a  director,  it 
should  engage  the  services  of  the  best  volunteer  leader  it 
can  secure  and  give  him  the  responsibility  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  educational  measures  which  the  church 
formulates  through  its  council.  Possibly  this  director  of 
religious  education  will  be  the  Sunday-school  superinten¬ 
dent,  but  let  his  sphere  of  activity  be  wider  than  the  Sun¬ 
day  school,  as  wide  as  the  whole  educational  task  of  the 
church,  and  let  him  really  supervise. 

1.  The  greatness  of  the  office.  A  glance  at  the  chart 
on  page  94  will  reveal  the  position  of  central  importance 
occupied  by  a  director  of  religious  education.  He  is  the 
executive  representative  of  the  council  and  responsible 
to  that  body.  Through  the  council  he  is  responsible  to 
the  church.  He  is  a  member  of  all  committees.  He 
has  supervision  over  the  threefold  educational  program 
of  the  church.  He  supervises  the  instructors  of  the 
training  schools,  he  is  at  the  head  of  the  central  program 
of  information,  worship,  and  expression,  and  he  has  the 
oversight  of  the  teachers  of  the  week-day  session  of  the 
church  school,  the  Sunday  session,  the  expressional 
session,  and  the  vacation  session.  He  is  director  of  the 
program  of  cooperation  with  the  home  which  the  church 


SETTING  UP  ADMINISTRATIVE  MACHINERY  101 


maintains  as  a  part  of  its  educational  work.  Through  all 
these  agencies  and  through  their  corps  of  teachers,  super¬ 
intendents,  and  instructors,  the  influence  of  the  director 
passes  to  every  pupil  of  the  school.  But  this  is  not  all. 
Every  able  supervisor  does  something  besides  supervise. 
He  comes  into  living  contact  with  individual  pupils  of 
the  school.  This  important  relationship  is  a  part  of  the 
administrative  plan  which  we  are  considering.  The 
director  is  the  representative  of  the  council  and  of  the 
church  in  the  relationships  which  these  organizations 
have  with  individual  pupils. 

2.  Assistants  of  the  director  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion.  The  church  needs  not  only  a  director  of  religious 
education  but  also  a  supervisory  organization  of  which 
the  director  is  the  head.  In  such  a  scheme  as  we  have 
been  considering  there  would  need  to  be  a  supervisor  of 
the  school  for  leadership  training,  a  superintendent  for 
the  central  program  of  instruction,  worship,  and  expres¬ 
sion,  and  a  director  of  the  program  of  cooperation  which 
the  church  carries  on  with  the  homes  of  its  constituency. 
In  a  large  church  all  these  heads  of  the  threefold  program 
would  need  assistants,  and  the  superintendent  of  the 
central  program  would  have  under  his  leadership  full 
departmental  organizations  with  superintendents  and 
other  officers.  The  scheme  may  be  worked  out  as  fully 
as  the  needs  of  the  situation  seem  to  require. 

3.  The  director  and  the  teachers.  One  of  the 
greatest  needs  of  religious  education  is  that  of  skilled  and 
sympathetic  supervision  for  the  teaching  force.  This 
need  is  being  met  in  churches  which  have  made  a  place 
in  their  educational  program  for  a  director  of  religious 
education  and  which  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  se¬ 
cure  the  right  person  for  the  place.  Such  a  director  makes 
it  one  of  his  major  objectives  to  help  teachers  to  more 
efficient  teaching.  He  visits  classes  and  afterwards  has 


102 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


personal  interviews  with  the  teachers  whose  classes  he 
has  visited.  He  commends  them  for  excellencies.  He 
points  out  needed  improvements  in  classroom  manage¬ 
ment  and  better  ways  of  presenting  lesson  materials.  He 
meets  his  teachers  both  individually  and  collectively  and 
seeks  to  deepen  the  spirit  of  consecration  as  well  as  to 
raise  the  general  educational  efficiency. 

4.  The  director  and  the  school  secretary.  The 
records  of  the  Sunday  school  and  other  educational 
agencies  of  the  church  are  the  educational  bookkeeping 
of  the  church.  Good  bookkeeping  is  quite  as  essential 
in  the  enterprises  of  the  church  as  it  is  in  business  enter¬ 
prises.  The  school  secretary  is  therefore  one  of  the  chief 
helpers  of  the  director  of  religious  education.  Accurate 
information  should  be  gathered  concerning  every  pupil, 
and  this  information  should  be  made  available  in  con¬ 
venient  form.  Records  of  the  progress  made  by  each 
pupil  should  be  a  part  of  the  secretary’s  storehouse  of  in¬ 
formation. 

Data  regarding  the  twenty  matters  listed  below  will 
usually  be  needed  concerning  the  pupils  of  the  school: 

1.  Full  name  of  pupil. 

2.  Date  of  birth. 

3.  Name  of  father. 

4.  Name  of  mother. 

5.  Number  of  brothers  and  sisters. 

6.  Ages  of  brothers  and  sisters. 

7.  Foreign-born  or  native-born:  (a)  pupil;  (b)  father; 
(c)  mother. 

8.  Residence. 

9.  Employed  or  in  school. 

10.  Member  of  Sunday  school. 

11.  Member  of  Church. 

12.  Grade  in  public  school. 

13.  Church  of  parents. 


SETTING  UP  ADMINISTRATIVE  MACHINERY  103 


14.  Organizations  of  which  pupil  is  a  member. 

15.  Absences. 

16.  Tardiness. 

17.  Date  of  joining  class. 

18.  Date  of  promotion  or  withdrawal. 

19.  Attend  week-day  sessions. 

20.  Attend  expressional  sessions. 

5.  The  director  and  the  council.  Since  the  direc¬ 
tor  is  the  executive  officer  of  the  council,  he  will  make 
frequent  and  full  reports  to  that  body.  He  will  cover  in 
this  report  such  matters  as  enrollment  in  the  various 
educational  agencies  of  the  church,  attendance  upon 
classes,  tardiness,  cooperation  of  the  teaching  force,  and 
other  like  matters.  He  will  make  such  recommendations 
for  new  types  of  work,  reorganization,  or  changes  in  the 
working  force  of  the  church  school,  as  he  has  come  to 
believe  necessary. 

6.  The  director  and  the  pastor.  The  director  of 
religious  education  ought  to  be  something  more  than  the 
pastor’s  handy  man.  He  should  have  a  responsibility 
and  a  task  which  is  all  his  own.  Since  the  pastor  is  the 
leader  of  the  church  in  all  its  activities,  he  is  over  the 
director  of  religious  education  also;  but  a  wise  pastor 
will  give  large  liberty  to  a  helper  who  bears  such  wide 
responsibility  as  the  director  of  religious  education  must 
bear.  Although  the  pastor  is  leader,  he  is  likewise  an 
associate  with  the  director. 

The  pastor  will  have  a  large  part  in  carrying  out  such 
a  program  as  has  been  outlined  in  this  chapter.  His  will 
be  the  all-important  task  of  quickening  those  deep  religious 
emotions  without  which  the  best  forms  of  organization 
and  the  most  elaborate  systems  of  administration  count 
for  nothing.  The  aid  of  a  good  church  organization  for 
religious  education  and  the  assistance  of  an  educational 
specialist  as  a  director  of  the  church  school  gives  the 


104 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


pastor  a  chance  to  become  a  more  potent  force  than  he 
could  otherwise  be  in  the  educational  work  of  the  church. 
He  is  relieved  from  certain  details  that  he  may  make  his 
personality  widely  felt  in  every  department  of  the  work. 
His  great  opportunity  comes  when  the  results  of  religious 
teaching  are  beginning  to  bear  fruit,  when  young  lives  are 
feeling  the  call  to  a  close  walk  with  God  which  has  become 
possible  with  the  soul-expanding  growths  of  later  child¬ 
hood  and  early  adolescence.  It  is  here  that  the  pastor 
comes  in  as  the  chief  specialist  in  the  whole  educational 
scheme  of  the  church.  He  conducts  the  communicants’ 
class  in  which  the  preparatory  stages  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  are  rounded  out  and  souls  brought  into  living  and  last¬ 
ing  allegiance  to  Christ  and  his  Church. 


CHAPTER  VII 


Choosing  and  Arranging  Curriculum 

Materials 


CHAPTER  VII 

Choosing  and  Arranging  Curriculum  Materials 

THE  curriculum  of  a  church  school  includes  not  only 
the  lesson  materials,  which  are  intended  as  a  basis 
of  information  concerning  religious  matters,  but  also  all 
the  training  in  worship  and  the  practice  in  Christian 
living  which  the  church  school  must  furnish  if  it  is  to  be 
largely  successful.  It  includes  all  the  materials  and 
activities  which  the  church  employs  in  its  teaching  task. 
The  curriculum  of  a  church  school  is  therefore  the  answer 
of  that  church  to  the  query,  What  shall  we  teach;  and 
how  shall  our  teaching  be  made  effective  in  the  life  and 
conduct  of  our  pupils?  The  choosing  of  curriculum 
materials  and  the  arranging  of  these  materials  into  an 
orderly  system  is  thus  seen  to  be  a  matter  of  fundamental 
importance  in  the  planning  of  an  effective  system  of 
religious  education.  Some  principles  which  will  help 
church-school  workers  to  choose  suitable  curriculum 
material  and  organize  it  into  a  suitable  system  are  to  be 
given  in  this  chapter. 

1.  Biblical  material  should  have  a  central  place  in 
the  curriculum.  There  are  many  reasons  why  Biblical 
material  should  have  a  central  place  in  the  curriculum. 
Perhaps  the  fundamental  reason  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  church  school  aims  to  teach  not  onty  a  system  of 
ethics,  but  a  system  of  ethics  having  its  source  in  a  quick¬ 
ened  and  developed  religious  consciousness.  The  church 
school  which  is  conscious  of  its  highest  offices  aims  to 
modify  conduct  by  leading  pupils  into  those  religious 
experiences  which  are  more  potent  conduct  controls  than 
anything  we  have  yet  discovered. 

107 


108 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


The  Bible  is  in  a  peculiar  sense  the  Book  of  the  Christian 
religion.  It  records  the  religious  experiences  of  a  race  of 
people  who  came  through  much  struggle  and  affliction  to 
a  clear  and  ethical  monotheism  and  who  came  to  have  a 
strong  hope  for  a  divine  Deliverer.  It  tells  of  the  coming 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  of  his  life  of  purity  and  service, 
of  his  death  on  the  cross  for  the  redemption  of  mankind 
from  sin,  and  of  his  resurrection  to  an  endless  life  of  sover¬ 
eign  power.  It  tells  of  the  early  followers  of  the  Saviour 
who  built  the  foundations  of  the  Church  through  labor 
and  persecution. 

Now  it  is  the  goal  of  Christian  religious  education  to 
lead  people  not  only  to  know  about  this  Saviour,  but  also 
to  know  him,  in  such  an  intimate  and  personal  and  mys¬ 
tical  way  that  he  enters  into  their  thoughts  and  their 
conduct  as  the  controlling  factor  of  their  lives.  Any 
system  of  education  which  omits  this  goal  ought  not  to 
be  regarded  as  Christian.  It  may  have  excellent  plans 
and  suitable  materials  for  developing  the  moral  life  to  a 
certain  extent,  but  if  it  does  not  exalt  Jesus  as  Saviour 
and  Lord,  it  will  certainly  fall  short  of  laying  a  sure 
foundation  for  morality  and  universal  brotherhood. 

We  are,  therefore,  justified  in  maintaining  that  the 
Bible  is  something  more  than  one  of  many  sources  from 
which  materials  suitable  for  religious  education  may  be 
drawn.  It  is  the  source  of  such  materials.  It  is  so 
essential  that  it  ought  to  be  central  in  the  curriculum,  so 
important  that  other  materials  ought  to  be  considered  as 
mere  aids  in  emphasizing  and  illustrating  the  truths 
which  the  Bible  sets  forth. 

2.  Graded  Bible  lessons  should  be  provided.  The 

fact  that  the  Bible  is  so  important  in  religious  education 
does  not  free  us  from  the  obligation  to  teach  it  in  the 
best  possible  way.  Rather  because  it  is  so  important  we 
are  under  the  greatest  possible  obligation  to  teach  it  in 


CHOOSING  CURRICULUM  MATERIALS 


109 


the  best  way  known  to  us.  It  must  be  taught  in  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  sound  pedagogy  and  not  in  defiance  of 
them.  The  Uniform  Lessons  which  held  almost  undis¬ 
puted  sway  in  the  Sunday  schools  for  nearly  a  half  century 
were  sadly  lacking  because  they  were  ungraded.  The 
Bible  contains  suitable  educational  material  for  the  infant 
and  for  the  philosopher,  and  for  all  people  who  come  in 
between  these  extreme  limits,  but  the  material  must  be 
selected  and  arranged  in  lessons  suited  to  the  different 
stages  of  mental  and  spiritual  development  of  the  persons 
to  be  taught. 

3.  All  parts  of  the  Bible  which  possess  distinct  edu¬ 
cational  value  should  be  included.  A  course  of  Bible 
lessons  which  is  to  be  the  basis  of  instruction  covering  the 
years  from  infancy  to  maturity  ought  to  cover  all  parts  of 
the  Bible  which  have  distinct  educational  value.  The 
Uniform  Lessons  erred  here  likewise  and  they  erred 
grievously.  In  fifty-two  years  they  touched  at  least  once 
some  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  whole  Bible.  Sixty-five 
per  cent  was  not  touched  even  once.  Some  of  the  ne¬ 
glected  portions  are  of  the  highest  teaching  value.  The 
teachings  of  great  prophets  like  Amos,  Micah,  and  Jeremiah 
were  touched  upon  very  lightly,  if  at  all.  Note  these 
sublime  words  of  Micah.  “  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before 
Jehovah,  and  bow  myself  before  the  high  God?  shall  I 
come  before  him  with  burnt-offerings,  with  calves  a  year 
old?  will  Jehovah  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams,  or 
with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil?  shall  I  give  my  first¬ 
born  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body  for  the 
sin  of  my  soul?  He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ; 
and  what  doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly, 
and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?  ” 
This  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  greatest  passages  in 
the  Old  Testament,  yet  it  was  not  studied  once  in  the 
Uniform  Series  of  lessons  during  a  period  of  fifty-two  years. 


110 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Jeremiah’s  great  utterance  concerning  the  new  covenant, 
Jer.  31:31-34  was  studied  just  once  during  the  same 
period. 

Most  graded  lessons  do  much  better  in  this  matter. 
They  include,  not  thirty-five  per  cent  of  the  Bible,  but 
about  sixty-five  per  cent.  The  necessity  of  choosing  so 
far  as  possible  only  such  Bible  material  as  could  be  taught 
to  all  ages  held  the  Uniform  Lessons  down  to  a  quite 


Chart  Showing  the  Use  Madle  of  Biblical  Material  in  the 
International  Uniform Lessona  rn  For ly-six\ears. from  1872tol917 

key 

Material  not  used  at  all  81  Material  used  twice.  0 

Material  used  once  0  Material  used  three  or  oo»e  times  Q 

C4'yrtgl>t.l»??.fcy  W  £ 


narrow  range.  The  Graded  Lessons,  being  freed  from  this 
necessity,  naturally  included  a  far  greater  amount  of 
Biblical  material. 

4.  Two  types  of  grading.  Sunday-school  work  has 
developed  two  distinct  types  of  graded  lessons.  One  is 
known  as  the  Closely  Graded  System,  the  other  as  the 


CHOOSING  CURRICULUM  MATERIALS 


111 


Departmental  Graded  System.  The  Closely  Graded 
System  provides  for  a  different  lesson  subject  for  each 
class  of  the  school.  The  Departmental  Graded  System 
provides  for  a  different  lesson  subject  for  each  depart¬ 
ment  of  the  school.  The  Closely  Graded  System  has  the 
advantages  arising  from  the  fact  that  it  leads  each  pupil 
through  a  graded  and  progressive  series  of  lessons  which 
are  taken  in  the  same  order  by  every  pupil  through  the 
school.  The  Departmental  System  has  the  advantages 
which  arise  from  having  the  same  lesson  theme  for  a 
whole  department.  This  enables  the  departmental  super¬ 
intendent  to  make  the  songs  and  the  whole  service  of 
worship  contribute  potently  toward  imparting  the  truths 
of  the  selected  lesson.  It  also  facilitates  the  correlation  of 
the  instruction  with  the  expressional  program,  because 
under  this  plan  all  the  classes  of  a  department  can  meet 
together  for  their  expressional  meeting  and  have  for  their 
consideration  subjects  growing  out  of  their  Sunday- 
school  lesson,  and  out  of  their  week-day  lesson  if  the 
church  maintains  a  week-day  school  correlated  with  the 
rest  of  the  educational  program  of  the  church. 

The  Departmental  System  is  helped  by  the  fact  that 
there  is  possible  not  only  a  grading  of  lesson  materials, 
but  also  a  grading  of  instruction.  Grading  of  the  latter 
type  has  its  limitations,  it  is  true.  The  efforts  of  a  teacher 
will  not  make  a  satisfactory  lesson  for  the  Beginners  out 
of  a  lesson  which  is  pecularily  fitted  for  adults;  but  the 
efforts  of  a  teacher  to  grade  her  instruction  are  sufficient 
to  fit  a  given  lesson  suitable  for  Primary  pupils  to  any  one 
of  the  three  Primary  ages. 

5.  Bible  material  should  be  emphasized  and  illus¬ 
trated  by  extra-Biblical  material.  The  teaching 
process  must  begin  with  the  known  and  proceed  to  the 
unknown.  Bible  times  are  far  away.  Customs  of  that 
day  and  customs  of  our  day  differ  the  one  from  the  other. 


112 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


In  order  that  the  Bible  truth  may  be  fully  grasped,  the 
teacher  often  must  use  as  illustrations  the  customs  and 
events  with  which  the  pupils  are  familiar.  This  does  not 
mean  that  these  extra-Biblical  materials  are  superior  to 
the  Bible  materials  or  a  substitute  for  them.  It  means 
that  the  extra-Biblical  materials  are  used  as  aids  in  teach¬ 
ing  Bible  truths.  All  the  rich  treasures  of  art,  literature, 
and  song  are  thus  given  a  rightful  place  in  the  curriculum 
of  the  church  school.  To  include  them  in  the  right  way 
is  not  to  teach  less  Bible  but  more. 

6.  Handwork  and  dramatization.  What  has  been 
said  of  extra-Biblical  lesson  materials  is  equally  true  of  such 
activities  as  handwork  and  dramatization.  Handwork 
may  be  made  a  powerful  ally  in  teaching  the  Bible. 
Children  who  have  built  a  model  of  Solomon’s  Temple 
under  the  direction  of  a  skillful  teacher  have  gained  a 
fuller  knowledge  of  certain  Biblical  matters  than  that 
possessed  by  half  our  ministers.  Dramatization  of  Bible 
stories  helps  the  pupils  almost  to  live  again  the  experiences 
which  the  Bible  narratives  recount. 

With  such  matters  as  have  been  mentioned  in  mind, 
we  shall  be  wise  if  we  do  not  hastily  condemn  religious 
teachers  who  are  using  handwork,  dramatization,  and 
much  extra-Biblical  material  in  their  school  work.  They 
are  very  possibly  teaching  the  Bible  more  effectively  with 
these  aids  than  it  could  be  taught  without  them.  A 
good  many  zealous  advocates  of  a  type  of  Bible  teaching 
which  excludes  all  extra-Biblical  material  are  in  reality 
more  anxious  to  promote  their  own  interpretations  of 
Bible  material  than  they  are  to  secure  an  independent 
and  extensive  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  on  the  part  of 
their  pupils. 

7.  The  curriculum  should  be  pedagogically  com¬ 
plete.  The  curriculum  should  make  adequate  pro¬ 
vision  for  all  phases  of  the  religious  ‘educative  process. 


CHOOSING  CURRICULUM  MATERIALS 


113 


An  effective  program  of  information-giving  is  important, 
but  it  is  not  all  that  is  necessary.  The  memorizing  of 
Bible  passages  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  narratives  is 
a  foundation  for  religious  education.  Such  knowledge 
will  probably  influence  conduct  to  some  degree,  but  an 
educational  program  which  stops  with  the  giving  of  in¬ 
formation  will  not  do  as  a  working  basis.  We  must  have 
not  only  the  imparting  of  information  but  also  training 
in  worship  and  a  program  of  activities  which  enables  our 
pupils  to  put  in  practice  the  truths  we  are  trying  to  teach. 
Religious  education  on  an  abstract  information  basis 
has  been  one  of  the  chief  defects  of  the  teaching  program 
of  the  Church.  The  three  phases  of  the  educative  pro¬ 
cess,  information,  worship,  and  expression,  must  not  only 
be  present  in  the  program,  but  must  be  present  in  right 
proportions  and  as  related  parts  of  one  program.  The 
training  in  worship  is  most  effective  when  it  grows  out  of 
the  information  which  is  being  given  at  the  time  when  the 
worship-training  efforts  are  being  put  forth.  The  ex- 
pressional  activities  are  most  potently  educative  when  they 
are  grounded  in  an  adequate  body  of  informational 
material  and  have  been  born  in  a  stirring  of  the  religious 
emotions. 

8.  The  curriculum  should  be  complete  as  to  sub¬ 
ject  matter.  Certain  matters,  more  or  less  closely  related 
to  Biblical  instruction,  have  often  been  set  apart  for 
special  emphasis  in  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  Among 
these  subjects  are  missions,  temperance,  stewardship, 
world  citizenship,  and  others.  Efforts  to  promote  these 
matters  in  the  schools  of  the  church  have  led  to  no  little 
confusion. 

Let  us  take  missionary  education  as  an  illustration. 
It  has  often  happened  that  missionary  education  in  the 
church  schools  has  been  promoted  by  some  agency  of  the 
Church  which  does  not  have  charge  of  constructing  the 


114 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


general  curriculum  of  these  schools.  Hence,  missionary 
education  comes  in  as  an  added  and  unrelated  item  of  the 
curriculum.  A  missionary  superintendent  is  appointed 
to  promote  missionary  education  in  an  individual  church. 
She  devises  plans  for  accomplishing  the  task  assigned  her. 
Perhaps  she  secures  “five  missionary  minutes’ ’  in  each 
Sunday-school  session  and  tries  to  give  the  pupils  the 
missionary  education  they  need  by  a  light  sprinkling  of 
information  on  the  subject  of  missions  once  a  week  and 
for  five  minutes  at  a  time.  This  is  better  than  nothing, 
perhaps,  but  it  is  an  almost  impossible  teaching  arrange¬ 
ment. 

Perhaps  the  missionary  superintendent  undertakes 
more  ambitious  plans.  She  seeks  to  create  organizations 
independent  of  the  Sunday  school  which  will  give  a  larger 
and  more  efficient  education  in  missions  than  can  be 
crowded  into  a  Sunday-school  program  which  has  already 
been  made  up  and  is  already  too  full  for  the  time  available. 
She  creates  a  series  of  missionary  organizations  which 
will  gather  into  mission  study  classes  all  the  constituency 
of  the  church  from  the  infant  classes  to  the  adults.  She 
sets  in  motion  this  educational  machinery,  independently 
of  the  other  educational  agencies  of  the  church.  The 
organizations  succeed  in  reaching  about  ten  per  cent  of 
the  girls  and  women  of  the  church.  The  remainder  of 
the  church-school  pupils  get  only  a  scattered  and  incidental 
information  concerning  this  great  phase  of  the  Church’s 
task. 

Perhaps  the  missionary  superintendent  tries  another 
plan  and  organizes  a  “School  of  Missions”  which  meets 
every  night  for  a  week  or  so  and  has  classes  for  old  and 
young.  Some  of  these  mission  schools  have  been  quite  suc¬ 
cessful  in  reaching  the  church-school  pupils  and  real  educa¬ 
tional  work  has  been  accomplished.  None,  however,  have 
reached  all,  or  anything  near  all,  of  the  church-school 


CHOOSING  CURRICULUM  MATERIALS 


115 


pupils,  and  the  time  devoted  to  the  study  of  this  important 
subject  is  still  inadequate.  The  missionary  task  of  the 
church  cannot  be  taught  in  any  of  these  ways  so  effec¬ 
tively  as  its  importance  demands. 

What  is  needed  is  for  all  agencies  of  the  denomination 
to  get  together  and  build  a  church-school  curriculum  in 
which  all  subjects  such  as  missions  are  given  a  place  and 
an  emphasis  in  proportion  to  their  importance.  Each  of 
these  subjects  would  thus  be  made  a  part  of  the  religious 
education  and  training  of  every  pupil  of  the  school. 
Subjects  could  be  emphasized  whenever  the  lesson  ma¬ 
terials  made  such  emphasis  natural  and  effective.  Im¬ 
portant  subjects  could  be  given  extended  periods  in 
which  they  could  be  fully  treated. 

There  is  always  a  need  for  Church  specialists  and  there 
would  still  be  a  place  in  the  educational  program  of  the 
Church  for  such  organizations  as  mission  study  classes. 
Pupils  would  enter  these  classes  for  special  training  in 
some  field  where  they  expected  to  give  their  largest  ser¬ 
vice  to  the  Church.  The  larger  part  of  the  student 
body  would  be  given  such  an  education  in  each  special 
subject  as  is  necessary  for  every  intelligent  and  active 
member  of  the  Church. 

Such  matters  as  missionary  instruction,  stewardship, 
and  world  friendship  are  necessarily  closely  related  to 
expressional  activities.  None  of  them  can  be  really 
taught  apart  from  a  program  wherein  the  truths  imparted 
are  given  expression.  Missionary  instruction  is  incom¬ 
plete  without  missionary  offerings.  Instruction  in  stew¬ 
ardship  is  useless  if  it  does  not  lead  to  the  formation  of  the 
habit  of  regular,  intelligent,  and  proportionate  giving. 
World  brotherhood  is  only  a  fairy  picture  if  pupils  do 
not  practice  it  with  their  neighbors  who  are  of  another 
race  or  another  tongue  than  themselves. 

It  is  just  here  that  the  present  plan  of  assigning  such 


116 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


subjects  to  special  organizations  shows  a  fatal  weakness. 
These  organizations  maintain  some  sort  of  expressional 
activity  and  the  securing  of  offerings  for  their  special 
cause  may  be  one  of  their  main  objectives,  but  how  much 
more  effective  they  would  be  if  their  expressional  program 
were  a  part  of  a  general  expressional  program  of  the 
church  school  which  included  all  the  pupils  of  the  school ! 

9.  Lesson  materials  should  be  put  out  in  attractive 
form.  The  custom  of  putting  out  Sunday-school  lesson 
materials  in  periodical  form  has  been  practically  universal 
among  the  Protestant  denominations  of  America.  Lately 
there  have  been  signs  that  some  denominational  publish¬ 
ing  houses  are  beginning  to  abandon  this  plan.  The 
Sunday-school  quarterly  is  open  to  serious  objections.  It 
does  not  command  the  respect  of  church-school  pupils. 
Quarterlies  are  neglected  and  mistreated  where  attrac¬ 
tively  bound  textbooks  would  be  given  more  respectful 
treatment.  Pupils  throw  them  away,  lose  them,  some¬ 
times  wantonly  destroy  them.  The  effect  of  a  paper- 
bound  quarterly,  not  overly  well  printed,  sometimes  with 
advertisements  on  the  back  cover,  is  to  cause  pupils  to 
rate  religious  education  a  good  deal  below  secular  educa¬ 
tion.  In  public  school  they  are  given  textbooks  well 
bound,  well  printed,  and  with  attractive  illustrations. 
When  these  pupils  are  given  Sunday-school  quarterlies 
which  fall  far  below  the  public-school  textbooks  they 
very  naturally  come  to  feel  that  religious  education  is  a 
matter  of  little  importance;  that  the  Sunday  school  is 
not  a  real  school. 

The  periodical  plan  of  issuing  lesson  materials  is  apt 
to  lead  to  poorty  planned  and  inadequate  lesson  treat¬ 
ment.  Lesson  writers  know  that  they  are  working  up 
a  lesson  which  will  be  used  on  one  Sunday  only  and  then 
in  all  probability  thrown  away.  The  result  is  almost 
inevitably  a  less  creditable  production  than  when  the 


CHOOSING  CURRICULUM  MATERIALS 


117 


lesson  writer  knows  that  the  lesson  is  to  be  used  for  a 
series  of  years. 

The  periodical  plan  ties  the  lessons  to  a  fixed  time 
schedule.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  the  lesson  is 
mastered  or  not,  the  lesson  for  the  next  Sunday  is  assigned 
and  dated  and  must  be  taken  at  the  prescribed  time. 
Uncompleted  lesson  materials  must  go  by  the  board  so  as 
to  make  ready  for  the  fixed  schedule.  Public-school 
education  could  not  be  successfully  conducted  on  such  a 
plan.  The  public-school  teacher  knows  that  if  a  lesson 
is  evidently  still  untaught,  she  must  teach  it  before  going 
on;  it  is  a  link  in  the  chain  of  lessons,  and  if  one  link  be 
left  out  or  poorly  constructed,  the  chain  will  be  weak  or 
useless.  It  is  true  that  dated  and  labeled  lessons  save  the 
teacher  the  trouble  of  keeping  track  of  the  lessons  and 
the  supervisor  the  labor  involved  in  keeping  all  the  classes 
together,  but  this  small  convenience  is  purchased  at  a 
great  price,  for  it  often  means  a  broken  and  incomplete 
presentation  of  the  lesson  course  with  its  consequent 
failure  to  give  the  pupil  religious  culture  of  much  value. 

The  periodical  plan  is  expensive.  Quarterlies  are  used 
at  best  only  during  the  three  months  when  the  lessons 
they  contain  are  running.  After  that  they  are  out  of 
date  and  become  useless  rubbish.  Public-school  text¬ 
books  are  generally  used  until  they  are  worn  out.  This 
defect  of  the  quarterly  results  in  a  waste  that  is  really 
serious.  It  wastes  lesson  materials  and  it  wastes  the 
efforts  of  lesson  writers;  it  wastes  the  money  of  the  Church. 
It  is  true  that  the  profits  from  the  sales  of  periodical 
educational  literature  often  go  to  support  some  missionary 
undertaking  of  the  denomination,  but  this  does  not 
excuse  the  waste  involved  in  the  plan.  The  Indiana 
Survey  of  Religious  Education  revealed  the  fact  that  in 
that  state  the  Sunday-school  lesson  materials  of  a  child 
cost  as  much  per  year  as  the  lesson  materials  of  a  sub- 


118 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


ject  pursued  five  periods  a  week  in  the  public  schools. 
Lesson  materials  for  a  one-hour-a-week  church  school 
course  cost  as  much  as  lesson  materials  for  a  five-hour-a- 
week  public-school  course.  The  periodical  plan  of  issuing 
lesson  materials,  therefore,  causes  the  churches  to  pay 
five  times  as  much  as  is  really  needed  for  the  supplying 
of  lesson  materials  to  their  pupils,  and  the  materials 
furnished  are  not  very  satisfactory  at  that. 

10.  Bound  textbooks  of  religious  education.  Be¬ 
cause  of  the  facts  which  have  just  been  mentioned,  many 
denominations  are  beginning  to  issue  bound  textbooks  for 
use  in  their  church  schools.  The  Presbyterian  Church 
is  issuing  the  Westminster  Textbooks  of  Religious  Educa¬ 
tion.  This  is  a  complete  course,  covering  all  ages  from 
the  Primary  Department  through  the  Intermediate 
Department.  Books  for  departments  beyond  the  Inter¬ 
mediate  Department  are  being  planned.  These  text¬ 
books  are  planned  to  embody  the  curriculum  ideas  set 
forth  in  this  chapter.  Other  denominations  are  issuing 
lesson  courses  in  the  bound  textbook  form. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


Recruiting  and  Training  the 
Teaching  Force 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Recruiting  and  Training  the  Teaching  Force 

IT  has  been  estimated  that  sixty-five  per  cent  of  the 
efficiency  of  a  school  depends  on  the  teaching  force. 
The  remaining  thirty-five  per  cent  is  divided  between 
such  items  as  the  curriculum,  equipment,  system  of 
grading,  and  other  like  matters.  It  is  therefore  a  matter 
of  primary  importance  for  the  church  school  to  have  an 
efficient  corps  of  teachers.  An  adequate,  consecrated, 
trained,  and  experienced  teaching  force  will  accomplish 
much  even  under  the  handicap  which  unsuitable  buildings 
and  meager  equipment  are  apt  to  impose  upon  the  church- 
school  enterprise;  but  if  the  teaching  force  is  not  what  it 
should  be,  no  other  item  of  the  program,  no  matter  how 
excellent  it  may  be,  will  make  up  for  the  defect.  Excellent 
courses  of  study  are  of  no  value  without  a  teaching  force 
capable  of  carrying  them  through.  Good  equipment  is 
a  waste  if  teachers  do  not  know  how  to  use  it.  Well-laid 
and  carefully  executed  plans  for  increasing  enrollments  in 
the  church  school  often  come  to  naught  in  the  end  because 
teachers  fail  to  interest  and  hold  the  pupils  who  have 
been  enrolled  in  the  “drive”  for  new  members.  So  it 
behooves  every  church  school  to  look  well  to  its  teaching 
force,  making  earnest  effort  to  secure  the  right  kind  of 
teachers  and  to  train  them  for  an  increasing  efficiency  in 
their  chosen  field  of  service. 

Teaching  Force  Needed  for  a  Unified  Program  of 
Religious  Education  in  an  Individual  Church 

A  considerable  corps  of  teachers  will  be  needed  for  a 
unified  program  of  religious  education  such  as  has  been 

121 


122 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


outlined  for  the  individual  church  in  preceding  chapters. 
The  plan  will  require  at  least  five  groups  of  persons  whose 
work  will  be  largely  of  an  educational  nature. 

1.  The  Sunday-school  teachers.  The  Sunday  school, 
or  Sunday  session  of  the  church  school,  will  require  a 
teaching  force  for  each  of  its  departments.  The  depart¬ 
mental  organization  gives  teachers  an  opportunity  to 
become  specialists  in  the  instruction  of  some  grade,  or 
group.  They  are  thus  enabled  to  develop  a  higher  type 
of  skill  than  would  be  possible  without  the  departmental 
organization.  Each  department  usually  has  a  principal 
teacher,  or  superintendent,  under  whose  direction  the 
other  teachers  work,  who  is  their  helper  in  times  of  diffi¬ 
culty  or  perplexity,  who  makes  it  a  part  of  her  task  to 
train  the  teachers  of  the  department  for  higher  efficiency. 

2.  The  week-day  teachers.  Since  the  week-day 
session  of  the  church  school  bears  the  burden  of  informa¬ 
tion-giving,  the  teachers  of  this  session  need  to  be  well- 
trained  and  experienced.  They  will  have  much  larger  classes 
to  manage  than  the  Sunday-session  teachers  have.  If 
the  church  school  expects  public-school  time  and  public- 
school  credit,  its  educational  program  must  be  kept  up 
to  public-school  standards.  The  task  of  reaching  and 
maintaining  these  standards  will  rest  largely  on  the 
teachers  of  the  week-day  session  of  the  church  school. 

The  number  of  week-day  .church-school  teachers  re¬ 
quired  will  depend  upon  the  time  of  meetings  for  the 
week-day  classes  and  the  arrangements  which  are  made 
with  the  public  schools.  If  no  public-school  time  is 
used  and  the  pupils  all  come  at  once  after  the  close  of  the 
public  schools,  and  all  the  Sunday-school  pupils  come, 
the  teaching  force  of  the  week-day  session  will  need  to 
be  nearly  as  large  as  the  teaching  force  for  the  correspond¬ 
ing  departments  of  the  Sunday  session.  Many  times, 
however,  arrangements  are  made  with  the  public  schools 


RECRUITING  AND  TRAINING  THE  FORCE  123 


whereby  the  pupils  come  to  the  churches  one  class  at  a 
time.  In  this  way,  one  teacher  is  meeting  in  some  church 
schools  as  many  as  six  or  seven  hundred  children  every 
week,  giving  them  one  hour  of  religious  instruction  each, 
and  doing  all  the  work  herself. 

3.  Teachers  and  parents’  classes  and  visitors  in 
the  home.  Those  wrho  conduct  parents’  classes  will  of 
course  be  doing  definite  teaching  work.  Those  who  visit 
homes  for  the  Cradle  Roll  or  for  the  Home  Department 
will  not  be  conducting  class  instruction,  but  they  will 
need  much  of  the  teacher’s  skill  and  may  therefore  be 
classed  as  a  part  of  the  teaching  force  of  the  church. 

4.  Instructors  in  the  leadership  training  courses. 
Teaching  in  the  normal  classes  of  the  church  is  a  task 
which  calls  for  the  specialist  in  Bible,  in  pedagogy,  in 
child  psychology,  and  in  other  subjects  a  knowledge  of 
which  is  necessary  for  the  successful  church-school  teacher. 
The  church  must  seek  for  this  office  those  who  are  making 
religious  education  their  life  work  and  who  have  specialized 
in  some  phase  of  the  subject. 

5.  Superintendents  of  the  expressional  sessions  of 
the  church  school.  There  is  no  more  difficult  or  im¬ 
portant  task  in  the  whole  school  of  the  church,  than  that 
which  rests  upon  the  superintendent  of  the  young  people’s 
expressional  organizations.  This  task  requires  teaching 
ability  of  the  highest  kind.  The  superintendent  must 
guide  the  activities  of  the  organization  without  seeming 
to  do  so.  The  superintendent  must  round  out  the  teach¬ 
ing  process  by  bringing  it  to  pass  that  the  information 
given  in  other  sessions  of  the  school  and  the  emotional 
responses  which  have  been  raised  in  answer  to  such  in¬ 
struction  are  wrought  out  into  life  habits  and  enduring 
elements  of  character. 


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A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Qualifications  of  the  Teaching  Force 

The  opportunities  of  the  religious  teacher  are  so  great, 
the  responsibilities  of  the  religious  teacher  so  weighty, 
and  the  task  of  the  religious  teacher  of  such  importance, 
that  high  standards  for  the  teaching  force  of  the  church 
school  ought  to  be  set  up  and  maintained.  Strength  of 
character  and  scholarly  attainment  are  alike  needed.  Not 
all,  but  some,  of  the  more  important  characteristics  of  the 
teaching  staff  of  an  individual  church  are  listed  in  the 
following  paragraphs. 

1.  The  teachers  of  the  church  school  need  to  be 
consecrated  to  their  task.  Church-school  teaching, 
when  it  is  well  done,  brings  some  of  the  deepest  satisfac¬ 
tions  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge.  The  true  religious 
teacher  feels  something  of  the  joy  of  the  Apostle  John  who 
wrote  to  a  former  pupil  saying,  “  Greater  joy  have  I  none 
than  this,  to  hear  of  my  children  walking  in  the  truth.  ” 
Nevertheless,  church-school  teaching  requires  such  pa¬ 
tience,  perseverance,  and  piety  that  only  those  who  are  truly 
consecrated  to  the  task  can  make  a  real  success  of  their 
work.  The  teacher  teaches  more  by  personality  than  by 
formal  instruction;  the  first  essential  for  the  church-school 
teacher  is,  therefore,  purity  and  nobility  of  character. 

2.  The  teachers  of  the  church  school  need  to  be 
trained.  Church-school  teachers  need  to  know  the 
Bible  thoroughly,  because  the  Bible  is  at  the  center  of 
the  course  of  study.  They  need  to  understand  their 
pupils  thoroughly,  because  the  thoughts  and  emotions  and 
aspirations  of  the  pupils  are  the  materials  out  of  which 
they  are  to  rear  men  and  women  of  noble  character 
and  Christlike  lives.  Church-school  teachers  need  to  be 
trained,  because  training  eliminates  blunders  and  mis¬ 
takes.  We  do  not  desire  for  our  children  a  physician 
who  is  known  to  make  frequent  blunders.  We  demand  a 


RECRUITING  AND  TRAINING  THE  FORCE  125 


trained  specialist.  Why  should  we  have  more  concern 
about  the  bodies  of  our  offspring  than  we  have  about 
their  souls? 

3.  The  teachers  of  the  church  school  ought  to  be 
experienced.  In  pioneer  days  inexperienced  teachers 
were  permitted  to  take  charge  of  some  of  our  public 
schools.  The  custom  is  now  practically  abandoned  in  all 
states  of  the  Union.  Teachers  must  have  experience  in 
teaching  before  they  assume  the  responsibilities  of  a 
public-school  teacher.  They  go  into  classes  and  teach 
under  the  oversight  of  a  critic  teacher.  They  learn  to 
teach  before  they  are  given  full  standing  as  teachers. 
Some  such  plan  is  being  worked  out  in  many  churches. 
In  these  churches  the  superintendent  does  not  go  to  the 
Bible  class  and  call  for  volunteer  teachers  and  then  lead 
some  new  recruit  to  a  teacherless  class,  trusting  that  the 
interval  of  time  necessary  to  pass  from  the  Bible  Class 
to  some  other  department  of  the  school,  will  be  sufficient 
to  make  a  teacher  out  of  one  who  has  never  faced  a 
Sunday-school  class  before.  Teachers  in  these  schools 
are  carefully  selected  usually  from  among  the  young 
people;  they  are  given  instruction  in  a  normal  class; 
then  they  enter  some  department  as  helpers  and  are 
gradually  given  larger  and  larger  responsibility  as  their 
experience  increases.  One  of  the  religious  educational 
heresies  which  ought  to  be  eradicated  from  our  thinking 
is  the  evidently  widespread  belief  that  anyone  can  teach 
a  Sunday-school  class. 

4.  Church-school  teachers  ought  to  be  organized. 

Modern  industry  has  made  organization  a  necessity. 
Not  so  very  many  years  ago  a  skilled  workman  turned  out 
a  finished  product  which  was  almost  entirely  his  own 
creation.  If  the  workman  happened  to  be  a  watchmaker, 
he  made  the  watch  from  start  to  finish.  Now  the  skilled 
watchmaker  is  responsible  for  only  a  small  part  of  the 


126 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


mechanism  which  makes  up  a  watch.  He  is  only  one  cog 
in  a  vastly  complex  machine  which  is  engaged  in  making 
watches.  Something  of  the  same  division  of  labor  has 
come  into  education.  Teachers  have  become  specialists. 
Each  is  responsible  for  some  small  part  of  the  educative 
process.  The  farther  this  process  of  specialization  goes, 
the  greater  is  the  need  for  a  strong  organization  which 
binds  together  the  teaching  force  and  unifies  the  program 
of  teaching. 

Churches  have  found  it  helpful  to  unify  their  educational 
program,  not  only  by  creating  a  strong  administrative 
and  supervisory  organization,  but  also  by  organizing  a 
teachers  association,  to  include  all  having  to  do  with 
carrying  on  the  educational  task  of  the  church.  Such  an 
organization  enables  teachers  to  discuss  their  problems 
together.  It  helps  to  create  that  spirit  of  fellowship  in 
service  which  is  essential  for  high  standards  of  excellence 
in  teaching.  In  such  an  organization  the  experiences 
of  individual  teachers  are  made  the  possession  of  the 
whole  teaching  staff  of  the  church.  A  teachers  associa¬ 
tion  within  the  individual  church  makes  for  professional 
efficiency  on  the  part  of  individual  teachers  and  a  pur¬ 
poseful  and  unified  program  for  the  church. 

Sources  of  Supply  for  the  Teaching  Force  of  the 

Individual  Church 

The  problem  of  securing  an  adequate  and  efficient 
teaching  force  is  one  of  the  most  serious  elements  of  the 
whole  educational  task  of  the  individual  church.  It  is  im¬ 
portant  because  without  the  right  kind  of  teaching  force 
nothing  else  counts  for  much.  The  problem  is  all  the 
more  serious  because  so  few  churches  have  any  syste¬ 
matic  way  of  dealing  with  it.  Most  churches  practice 
little  or  no  foresight  in  the  matter.  They  wait  until  a 


RECRUITING  AND  TRAINING  THE  FORCE  127 


class  is  without  a  teacher  and  then  depend  on  some  such 
expedient  as  a  general  announcement  from  the  pulpit 
stating  the  fact  that  teachers  are  needed  in  the  church 
school  and  that  somebody  ought  to  take  up  the  task. 
Churches  which*  realize  that  the  teacher  pioblem  is  con¬ 
tinuous  and  which  have  a  special  committee  to  look  after 
the  matter  have  much  less  trouble  in  maintaining  an 
efficient  teaching  staff  than  is  the  case  with  churches 
having  no  such  committee.  A  few  of  the  sources  from 
which  teachers  of  the  church  school  may  be  secured  are 
as  follows: 

1.  Public-school  teachers.  It  is  probable  that  the 
most  efficient  teachers  of  the  church  school  are  to  be  found 
among  those  who  are  teachers  in  the  public  schools  or 
have  had  experience  in  public-school  teaching.  Many 
public-school  teachers  teach  in  Sunday  schools.  When 
the  week-day  church  schools  meet  in  out-of-public-school 
hours,  many  public-school  teachers  are  employed  to  give 
the  week-day  teaching  in  the  church  schools. 

Public-school  teaching  is  an  arduous  task,  it  is  true,  and 
yet  if  the  church  schools  are  so  organized  as  to  require 
only  a  half  hour,  or  a  little  more,  from  each  public-school 
teacher,  the  added  burden  is  not  so  heavy  as  to  make  the 
participation  of  the  public-school  teachers  in  church- 
school  activities  impossible. 

2.  Those  who  have  had  public  school  experience, 
but  who  are  not  teaching  at  present.  In  practically 
every  community  may  be  found  persons  who  have  once 
been  public-school  teachers  but  who  have  ceased  to  be 
engaged  in  that  task.  Some  have  married  and  become 
mothers.  These  are  often  better  fitted  for  the  teaching 
task  because  of  the  experiences  they  have  had  in  rearing 
their  own  children.  Sometimes  by  granting  some  com¬ 
pensation  churches  have  been  able  to  secure  these  ex¬ 
public-school  teachers.  The  small  amount  of  money 


128 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


earned  by  teaching  in  the  church  school  has  often  enabled 
a  mother  to  employ  some  help  at  home  which  releases  her 
for  the  teaching  task,  at  certain  hours  of  the  week. 

3.  Students  in  colleges.  Churches  located  near 
colleges  and  other  higher  educational  institutions  some¬ 
times  secure  efficient  teachers  from  among  the  students 
of  such  institutions.  Especially  is  this  apt  to  be  possible 
when  the  college  maintains  a  department  of  religious 
education.  Since  many  progressive  colleges  are  organiz¬ 
ing  such  departments,  this  source  of  supply  ought  to 
become  more  and  more  important  year  by  year.  Many 
colleges  make  actual  experience  in  conducting  a  church 
school  a  part  of  their  curriculum  for  students  in  the 
department  of  religious  education.  Individual  church 
schools  thus  become  the  laboratories  in  which  the  students 
secure  a  part  of  their  training  for  their  calling. 

The  Training  of  Church  School  Teachers 

The  Protestant  Church  is  making  some  progress  toward 
solving  its  teacher-supply  problem  by  setting  up  agencies 
which  will  train  church-school  teachers.  This  would 
seem  to  be  the  ultimate  solution  of  the  matter,  but  until 
the  system  is  more  complete  and  extensive  than  at  present, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  rely,  in  part,  on  securing  teachers 
and  supervisors  for  the  church  school  from  among  those 
who  have  been  trained  for  such  work  in  the  public  schools 
and  like  educational  institutions.  The  normal  schools  of 
the  Protestant  Church  are  of  three  types.  Each  of  these 
types  will  have  a  place  in  a  system  capable  of  supplying 
the  Church  with  an  adequate  and  efficient  teaching 
force. 

1.  Teacher- training  in  the  individual  church. 

All  except  the  most  unprogressive  churches  are  doing 
something  toward  training  teachers  for  their  educational 


RECRUITING  AND  TRAINING  THE  FORCE  129 


task.  In  churches  where  this  work  is  clone  most  effi¬ 
ciently,  there  are  classes  for  present  teachers  and  classes 
for  prospective  teachers.  A  definite  course  of  Bible 
study,  religious  pedagogy,  child  psychology,  and  like 
subjects,  is  laid  out  and  creditable  work  in  these  subjects 
is  required  for  graduation. 

There  are  very  few  churches,  however,  which  can 
carry  on  such  schools  as  are  able  to  do  all  that  ought  to 
be  done  toward  preparing  teachers  and  supervisors  of 
religious  education.  They  are  a  help,  but  they  cannot 
usually  give  those  extensive  courses  of  study  and  that 
expert  supervision  which  is  needed  for  the  leaders  of 
education  in  the  general  field  and  in  the  individual  church. 
The  religious  educational  task  is  second  to  none  in  im¬ 
portance  and  we  must  have  schools  for  preparing  religious 
educational  experts  which  rank  with  our  greatest  medical 
and  greatest  law  schools  in  the  extent  of  the  curriculum 
materials  they  provide  and  in  the  personnel  of  the  faculty 
they  employ. 

2.  Teacher-training  in  interdenominational  or 
community  schools.  It  often  happens  that  a  higher 
type  of  work  is  possible  when  the  churches  of  a  community 
work  together  in  teacher-training  than  when  each  church 
carries  on  its  work  alone.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  a 
much  more  extensive  course  of  study  is  usually  possible 
in  the  interdenominational  school  than  in  the  individual 
church  school  for  teacher-training.  A  more  experienced 
faculty  can  often  be  secured  for  the  interdenominational 
school  than  can  be  secured  for  the  individual  church  school. 
And  yet  it  is  not  often  that  work  of  really  college  grade 
can  be  done  even  in  the  interdenominational  or  community 
training  school.  Such  schools  are  helpful,  and  they  have 
demonstrated  their  efficiency  in  many  communities, 
yet  they  are  not  a  full  solution  of  the  teacher-supply 
problem. 


130 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


3.  Departments  of  religious  education  in  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries.  There  is  a  growing 
opportunity  for  young  people  to  take  up  religious  educa¬ 
tion  as  a  life  work.  This  makes  it  necessary  for  the 
Church  to  maintain  educational  institutions  which  will 
enable  .young  people  to  obtain  suitable  preparation  for 
entering  upon  religious  education  as  a  life  calling.  It 
is  evident  that  such  preparation  cannot  be  obtained  in 
any  school  for  teacher-training  maintained  by  an  indi¬ 
vidual  church,  or  in  such  a  school  maintained  by  the 
churches  of  a  community  in  interdenominational  co¬ 
operation.  The  task  of  preparing  leaders  for  religious 
education  in  denominational  activities,  and  even  in  the 
individual  church,  must  rest  upon  schools  which  are 
able  to  give  a  thorough  and  fundamental  training  for  this 
great  task. 

Our  church  colleges  and  theological  seminaries  are  the 
logical  agencies  for  this  task.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  task  has  been  so  largely  neglected  by  both.  Church 
colleges  have  often  tried  to  copy  the  great  state  institu¬ 
tions  of  higher  learning  and  have  overlooked  this  vastly 
important  phase  of  educational  work  which  was  peculiarly 
their  own.  Theological  seminaries  have  too  often  made 
almost  no  effort  to  fit  candidates  for  the  ministry  to 
assume  the  educational  leadership  of  an  individual 
church;  but  there  is  evidence  that  both  of  these  institu¬ 
tions  are  awaking  to  their  responsibility  for  training  the 
educational  leaders  of  the  Church. 

Shall  the  Teaching  Force  of  the  Individual  Church 

Be  Paid? 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  teaching  force  of  the 
individual  church  ought  not  to  be  paid  is  receiving  atten¬ 
tion  in  religious  educational  circles  to-day.  Churches 


RECRUITING  AND  TRAINING  THE  FORCE  131 


are  beginning  to  lose  faith  in  the  volunteer  teaching  force 
as  the  universal  agency  of  religious  education  among 
Protestant  bodies.  It  is  pointed  out  that  Robert  Raikes 
began  his  Sunday  schools  with  paid  and  trained  teachers. 
The  Sunday  schools  grew  so  rapidly  that  trained  teachers 
could  not  be  secured  and  money  could  not  be  obtained 
to  finance  the  movement  on  a  paid  basis.  As  a  temporary 
expedient,  volunteer  and  untrained  teachers  were  secured. 
That  which  was  intended  to  be  a  temporary  arrangement 
has  become  practically  universal  among  Protestant 
churches  and  it  has  until  recently  been  regarded  as  the 
normal  and  permanent  plan. 

It  has  been  urged  that  religious  teaching  must  be  on 
an  unpaid  basis  in  order  that  religious  teachers  may 
give  whole-souled  and  unselfish  devotion  to  the  task.  We 
have  come  to  a  place  in  religious  education  where  grave 
questions  are  raised  concerning  this  theory.  The  volun¬ 
teer  system  does  not  always  secure  devoted  and  unselfish 
service.  It  is  now  thought  possible  that  a  system  under 
which  teachers  receive  pay  might  mend  matters  some¬ 
what  in  so  far  as  devotion  to  duty  is  concerned.  The 
theory  that  religious  teachers  must  not  be  paid  lest  they 
become  selfish  seems  to  be  closely  akin  to  that  other 
theory,  now  happily  almost  extinct,  that  the  pastor  of  a 
church  must  be  paid  a  starvation  salary  to  keep  him  from 
becoming  mercenary.  A  desire  for  money  reward  is  not 
the  only  temptation  which  church-school  workers  have 
to  overcome.  There  are  other  temptations  in  the  work 
just  as  subtle  as  the  temptation  to  become  mercenary, 
and  perhaps  they  are  more  common. 

Taken,  all  in  all,  there  seems  no  good  reason  why 
churches  which  are  able,  and  parents  who  are  able, 
should  not  pay  for  the  religious  instruction  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  entrusted  to  their  care.  The  volunteer  system  of 
religious  teaching  has  led  to  conditions  in  the  Church 


132 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


which  are  little  short  of  scandalous.  It  seems  certain 
that  churches  which  would  accomplish  the  educational 
task  in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  large  and  permanent  re¬ 
sults  must  come  to  the  place  where  they  are  willing  to 
pay  for  the  supervision  of  their  educational  work  and 
for  such  phases  of  it  as  week-day  religious  instruction. 
The  question  is  not  so  much  whether  they  can  afford  to 
do  this  as  whether  they  can  afford  to  pursue  any  other 
policy.  One  thing  is  certain:  the  church  which  has  a 
future  is  going  to  have  a  more  efficient  educational  pro¬ 
gram  than  any  church  has  at  the  present  time.  If  that 
higher  efficiency  demands  a  paid  teaching  force,  the 
change  from  a  volunteer  teaching  force  to  a  force  which 
is  paid  will  be  made.  The  church  is  coming  to  the  place 
where  it  will  no  longer  tolerate  an  inefficient  educational 
system  which  enrolls  somewhat  less  than  half  the  children 
of  the  nation  and  fails  to  bring  into  Church  membership 
more  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  children  it  enrolls. 


CHAPTER  IX 


Providing  the  Physical  Conditions 
Necessary  for  Successful 
Teaching 


CHAPTER  IX 


Providing  the  Physical  Conditions  Necessary  for 

Successful  Teaching 

THE  teaching  program  of  the  Protestant  Church  has 
been  an  approximate  failure.  It  has  not  failed  en¬ 
tirely,  for  the  educational  agencies  of  the  Church,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  fact  that  they  are  so  largely  neglected, 
are  still  the  most  important  recruiting  force  of  the  Church. 
Not  only  are  the  largest  number  of  additions  to  the 
Church  brought  in  mainly  through  the  Sunday  school 
and  other  like  agencies,  but  the  most  permanent  and  the 
most  valuable  additions  are  secured  in  the  same  way. 
It  cannot  be  said,  therefore,  that  the  Sunday  school  and 
the  other  educational  agencies  of  the  Church  are  failures. 
It  can  be  said,  however,  that  they  have  failed  approxi¬ 
mately,  when  we  compare  their  accomplishments  with 
the  whole  task  for  which  they  are  intended.  The  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  of  the  Protestant  Church  are  intended  to 
bring  religious  instruction  to  all  children  and  youth  who 
can  be  legitimately  claimed  for  Protestantism.  They 
are  enrolling  less  than  one  half  of  these  children  and  young 
people  for  whom  they  are  responsible.  They  reach 
effectively  less  than  one  fourth  of  the  children  and  young 
folks  rightly  belonging  to  Protestantism.  This  is  approxi¬ 
mate  failure.  It  is  so  nearly  a  failure  that  it  would  not 
be  tolerated  in  any  enterprise  other  than  the  teaching 
function  of  the  Church.  It  would  not  be  allowed  to 
exist  in  the  public-school  system  of  even  our  most  back¬ 
ward  states.  It  would  mean  the  speedy  ruin  of  any 
business  enterprise  if  it  were  only  about  twenty-five  per 
cent  efficient. 


135 


136 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


The  major  cause  of  this  approximate  failure  is  doubtless 
due  to  an  inadequate,  largely  untrained  and  unsupervised 
rapidly  changing,  and  consequently  inefficient  teaching 
force.  The  next  most  important  cause  is  doubtless  poor 
teaching  conditions.  Under  this  term  we  would  include 
poor  and  unsuited  church-school  buildings,  meager 
equipment,  scanty  time,  and  the  many  hindrances  to  an 
efficient  educational  program  which  grow  out  of  the 
deplorable  custom  of  trying  to  support  the  school  of  the 
Church  out  of  the  penny  offerings  of  the  children. 

If  a  church  has  looked  after  the  teaching  force  somewhat 
after  the  fashion  suggested  in  the  preceding  chapter,  its 
next  task  is  to  provide  good  teaching  conditions  for  the 
teachers  it  secures.  It  is  a  waste  of  time  and  money  to 
train  efficient  teachers  for  the  school  if  we  are  expecting 
them  to  teach  in  unsuitable  rooms,  >vhere  perhaps  a 
half  dozen  or  more  teachers  are  trying  to  conduct  classes 
at  the  same  time.  It  is  useless  to  expect  even  the  best 
of  teachers  to  accomplish  much  if  they  have  no  suitable 
teaching  materials  and  are  given  such  a  meager  amount 
of  time,  and  time  which  is  so  poorly  suited  for  teaching, 
that  the  educative  process  is  made  practically  impossible. 


Church  School  Buildings 

The  new  era  in  religious  education  is  making  itself 
seen  in  the  types  of  buildings  now  being  erected  for 
church  purposes.  There  is  hardly  a  church  plant  now 
under  construction  in  which  serious  attempts  have  not 
been  made  to  secure  suitable  rooms  for  the  church  school. 
Thousands  of  church  buildings  are  being  remodeled  with 
the  same  end  in  view.  In  almost  every  case  where  church 
buildings  are  being  remodeled  the  change  has  been  under¬ 
taken  for  the  purpose  of  securing  better  housing  for  the 
educational  agencies  of  the  church.  These  buildings  were 


PROVIDING  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 


137 


built  some  decades  ago  with  the  primary  end  in  view  of 
securing  adequate  room  and  equipment  for  the  preaching 
services  of  the  church.  They  are  still  adequately  equipped 
for  this  phase  of  church  work,  some  of  them  more  than 
adequately  equipped  in  so  far  as  auditorium  room  for  the 
preaching  services  are  concerned;  but  they  are  being 
changed  to  secure  better  teaching  conditions. 

As  to  the  results  of  the  efforts  of  those  church  people 
who  are  tearing  down  and  building  anew  their  church 
plants,  it  can  be  said  that  their  intentions  are  good. 
Moreover,  it  is  a  hopeful  sign.  Building  church  plants 
in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  accomodations  for  a  real  church 
school  is  such  a  recent  movement  that  we  must  not  be 
discouraged  if  some  of  the  structures  are  somewhat 
surprising  and  of  questionable  value  for  the  purposes 
their  builders  had  in  view. 

1.  Evolution  of  the  church-school  building.  The 

development  of  church-school  building  plans  has  been 
going  on  for  a  hundred  years  or  more  in  our  country.  At 
first  there  was  only  the  church  auditorium,  with  its 
pulpit  on  a  raised  platform  in  front  and  its  rows  of  pews. 
The  Sunday  school  met  in  the  church  auditorium.  Then 
there  began  to  be  churches  built  with  a  “ lean-to”  Sun¬ 
day-school  room  for  “the  Infant  Class.”  In  time  this 
addition  to  the  church  building  assumed  larger  propor¬ 
tions.  Out  of  it  grew  the  “Akron  Plan”  of  Sunday- 
school  building,  a  horseshoe-shaped  affair  with  the  class¬ 
rooms  spread  in  a  semicircle  in  front  of  the  superinten¬ 
dent’s  platform.  The  Akron  church-school  building  was 
built  for  that  type  of  Sunday  school  in  which  everything 
centers  about  the  superintendent,  in  which  the  opening 
and  the  closing  exercises  are  the  big  events  of  the  program 
and  classroom  instruction  takes  a  minor  place.  Sunday 
schools  have  changed — at  least  some  have — and  the  modern 
school  of  the  church  majors  in  classroom  work  by  the 


138 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


teachers,  not  in  platform  work  by  the  superintendent. 
The  Akron  Plan  has  undergone  a  surprising  number  of 
modifications,  but  it  is  now  seen  to  be  fundamentally 
unsuited  for  a  church  school  which  wishes  to  do  the  best 
possible  work. 

2.  Departmental  assembly  rooms.  The  rise  of  the 
Sunday-school  department  as  the  educational  unit  on 
which  the  work  of  the  church  school  is  based  and  the 
introduction  of  graded  lesson  systems  spelled  the  doom 
of  the  Akron  Plan.  Church-school  buildings  are  now 
being  constructed  with  separate  assembly  rooms  for  each 
department.  The  departments  of  these  church  schools 
meet  separately,  except  on  special  occasions  when  the 
school  assembles  as  a  whole  in  a  large  church-school 
auditorium  or  in  the  auditorium  of  the  church.  In  its  own 
assembly  room  each  department  has  its  own  opening  service 
of  worship  and  praise. 

3.  Separate  classrooms.  The  best  church-school 
buildings  have  separate  classrooms  opening  off  from  the  de¬ 
partmental  assembly  room,  but  separated  from  it  by  doors 
and  soundproof  partitions,  if  not  by  a  hallway.  These 
separate  classrooms  are  needed  especially  for  classes  in 
the  Primary,  Junior,  Intermediate,  and  Senior  Depart¬ 
ments.  The  Beginners  do  not  greatly  need  separate  class¬ 
rooms  and  in  departments  above  the  Senior  separate  rooms 
are  not  so  important  as  in  the  departments  which  have 
been  named. 

4.  Sliding,  rolling,  or  folding  partitions  are  a  fail¬ 
ure.  All  movable  partition  devices  have  been  found  so  un¬ 
satisfactory  that  it  would  be  well  for  those  who  are  planning 
church-school  buildings  to  leave  them  out  of  the  building 
plans  which  they  adopt.  These  partitions  cannot  be  made 
soundproof.  Their  primary  purpose  is  to  enable  church- 
school  leaders  to  throw  all  the  classrooms  into  one  big 
room  where  the  superintendent  can  speak  to  the  whole 


PROVIDING  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 


139 


school  at  once.  They  seek  the  ends  sought  in  the  Akron 
Plan,  and  they  have  become  unnecessary  with  a  more 
pedagogical  organization  of  the  church  school  into  de¬ 
partments  where  the  major  teaching  effort  is  made  in 
departmental  services  of  worship  and  classroom  instruc¬ 
tion. 

5.  Church-school  building  standards.  Helpful  sug¬ 
gestions  as  to  how  church  buildings  should  be  constructed 
have  been  prepared  by  several  denominations.  Some 
denominational  leaders  have  constructed  church-school 
building  standards  which  deal  with  such  matters  as  the 
location  of  the  church-school  building,  its  general  appear¬ 
ance,  space  available  for  each  pupil,  sanitary  arrange¬ 
ments,  lighting,  heating  plant,  stairways,  and  many  other 
items  of  importance  in  a  church-school  plant.  Some  of 
these  standards  are  made  on  the  thousand-point  plan 
and  the  number  of  items  included  is  large,  but  not  one 
item  is  unimportant.  Those  who  have  charge  of  the 
erection  of  a  church-school  building  should  secure  one  of 
these  thousand-point  standards  and  seek  to  construct 
their  church-school  plant  as  nearly  as  possible  in  harmony 
with  its  specifications. 


Church  School  Equipment 

Modern  educational  methods  make  suitable  equip¬ 
ment  essential.  Some  of  the  best  methods  of  teaching 
cannot  be  used  without  the  right  kind  of  apparatus.  An 
enthusiastic  teacher  might  still  be  able  to  teach  chemistry 
without  a  laboratory  and  zoology  without  specimens,  but 
he  would  have  to  teach  these  subjects  in  a  way  that  is 
now  regarded  as  archaic  and  his  results  would  not  be  so 
great  as  they  could  have  been  with  a  like  effort  made 
effective  by  suitable  educational  equipment.  Church- 
school  teaching  is  of  too  much  importance  to  be  done  in 


140 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


an  archaic  fashion  in  order  that  a  few  dollars  may  be 
saved  by  going  without  the  equipment  which  would 
make  modern  teaching  methods  possible. 

Because  they  are  coming  to  see  the  truth  of  what  has 
just  been  said,  progressive  churches  are  providing  sand 
tables  for  their  primary  children,  maps  and  charts  and 
objects  from  mission  lands  for  their  Junior  and  Inter¬ 
mediate  pupils,  and  reference  libraries  for  their  teaching 
force.  They  provide  materials  for  handwork  and  make 
use  of  the  potent  educational  possibilities  of  the  stere- 
opticon  and  the  moving-picture  machine.  They  equip 
a  gymnasium  so  that  church-school  pupils  can  obtain 
wholesome  recreation  under  conditions  that  are  not 
demoralizing. 

1.  Good  equipment  is  necessary  to  efficient  Bible- 
teaching.  Some  good  people  seem  to  have  the  mistaken 
notion  that  the  more  educational  equipment  the  church 
provides,  the  less  the  instruction  in  the  Bible  is  apt  to  be. 
Quite  the  opposite  is  true.  Good  equipment  enables  the. 
capable  teacher  to  teach  the  Bible  effectively.  Children 
who  have  seen  the  town  of  Nazareth  and  its  vicinity 
through  a  set  of  stereoscope  pictures,  who  have  looked  at 
pressed  flowers  of  the  very  kind  which  the  Boy  Jesus 
loved  and  which  were  gathered  on  the  Nazareth  hills, 
who  have  made  with  their  own  hands  a  small  model  of  an 
ox  yoke  such  as  Jesus  made,  have  come  into  the  posses¬ 
sion  of  a  wider,  deeper,  truer,  and  more  conduct-con¬ 
trolling  knowledge  of  certain  Biblical  material  than  they 
could  have  gained  by  mere  word-of-mouth  instruction. 
They  have  learned  through  their  eyes  and  their  hands,  as 
well  as  through  their  ears,  and  their  knowledge  is  conse¬ 
quently  more  complete. 

2.  Good  equipment  is  not  expensive.  Many  churches 
provide  little  educational  equipment  because  they  have 
taken  it  for  granted  that  the  securing  of  such  things  for 


PROVIDING  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 


141 


their  school  is  financially  impossible.  This  is  not  often 
the  case.  Of  course  a  moving-picture  outfit  would  cost 
a  good  deal,  but  there  are  a  good  many  valuable  articles 
which  would  cost  hardly  anything  and  which  thousands 
of  churches  do  not  have.  Any  man  who  is  handy  with 
tools  can  make  a  good  sand  box  in  an  hour  or  so,  and  there 
are  other  kinds  of  equipment  just  as  easy  of  construction. 
Pupils  can  make  much  of  the  equipment  required  by  a 
church  school  if  they  have  the  guidance  of  a  teacher  who 
knows  what  is  needed. 

Adequate  Time  for  Teaching 

An  adequate  provision  of  time  for  the  teaching  process 
is  absolutely  necessary.  There  can  be  no  substitute  for 
it.  The  better  prepared  the  teaching  force,  the  more 
will  adequate  tune  for  instruction  be  needed.  The  better 
the  curriculum  and  the  more  complete  the  program  of 
information,  worship,  and  expression,  the  greater  will  be 
the  need  of  time.  The  more  complete  the  educational 
equipment,  the  more  will  time  be  needed  for  its  use  in  the 
educative  process.  Every  church  should  address  itself 
at  once  to  the  task  of  securing  adequate  and  suitable 
time  for  religious  instruction. 

1.  Enough  time  cannot  be  secured  on  Sunday  and 
Sunday  time  is  not  the  best  time  for  certain  phases 
of  the  task.  Sunday  is  already  overcrowded  with 
Church  activities.  A  little  more  time  for  teaching  has 
been  secured  by  lengthening  the  Sunday  school  or  by 
setting  up  some  sort  of  combination  service  in  which  the 
Sunday  school  is  merged  with  the  morning  preaching 
service.  Most  of  the  churches,  however,  which  have 
tried  such  plans  do  not  think  that  they  have  found  a 
solution  to  the  problem  of  securing  adequate  time  for 
religious  education.  Some  families  have  formed  the 


142 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


habit  of  giving  up  Sunday  afternoon  and  evening  to  the 
culture  of  home  life  and  the  plan  is  to  be  commended, 
and  church  programs  ought  not  to  make  such  a  family 
custom  impossible.  Taken  all  in  all,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  Church  is  giving  about  as  much  educational  work 
as  can  well  be  done  on  Sunday.  Many  religious  educa¬ 
tors  are  coming  to  believe  that  the  Church  should  use 
such  time  as  is  available  on  Sunday  for  training  children  in 
the  spirit  and  the  forms  of  worship,  leaving  the  task  of 
information-giving  very  largely  to  week-day  religious 
instruction.  Sunday  is  peculiarly  suited  for  a  program 
of  training  in  worship.  It  is  not  altogether  suited  for  a 
thorough  program  of  instruction.  The  week-day  school 
is  better  suited  for  instruction.  Children  come  in  their 
working  clothes.  It  is  their  regular  schooltime.  They 
can  engage  in  handwork  and  other  activities  which  help  to 
complete  the  educative  process. 

2.  Public-school  time  is  the  best  time  for  educa¬ 
tional  work  and  the  church  has  a  right  to  a  share 
of  it.  Religious  education  is  of  too  much  importance  to 
be  crowded  into  the  fatigue  time  and  the  recreation  time 
of  the  child.  The  public  schools  have  possession  of  that 
part  of  a  child’s  waking  hours  which  is  best  suited  for 
educational  work,  but  it  is  not  an  unreasonable  request 
for  the  churches  to  ask  the  public  schools  to  give  up  a 
part  of  this  time  in  order  that  religious  instruction  may 
be  given  under  favorable  conditions.  The  public  schools 
ought  to  do  it,  because  religious  instruction  will  supply 
an  element  in  the  child’s  education  which  the  public 
schools  cannot  supply  and  which  is  essential  to  any 
adequate  educational  system.  Many  public-school  edu¬ 
cators,  realizing  that  there  can  be  no  efficient  teaching  of 
patriotism  and  no  sure  grounding  of  the  pupil  in  moral 
habits  apart  from  the  culture  of  the  religious  faculties, 
are  gladly  welcoming  the  offered  cooperation  of  the 


PROVIDING  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS 


143 


churches  in  the  educational  task.  Week-day  religious 
instruction  has  had  its  beginnings  with  public-school 
teachers  and  superintendents  and  they  have  continued  to 
be  its  warmest  friends  and  most  loyal  supporters. 

The  Church  has  a  right  to  the  child’s  best  time,  not 
only  because  of  the  importance  of  the  contribution  which 
the  Church  can  make  towards  the  child’s  education,  but 
also  because  of  certain  historical  facts.  It  is  not  so  very 
long  ago  that  the  whole  of  education  was  a  Church  task. 
The  taking  over  of  the  educational  task  by  the  State  is 
a  comparatively  recent  event.  The  history  of  education 
under  State  control  has  shown  that  the  State  did  not 
take  over  the  whole  task,  and  that  it  cannot  under  our 
system  of  government.  Since  a  part  of  the  educational 
task  has  remained  with  the  Church  and  that  part  is 
second  to  no  other  in  importance,  has  not  the  Church  a 
right  to  ask  for  a  portion  of  the  child’s  educational  time 
which  so  recently  belonged  wholly  to  the  Church? 

3.  Public- school  time  can  be  granted  for  week¬ 
day  religious  instruction  without  inflicting  any  in¬ 
jury  upon  the  public  school.  Scores  of  communities  have 
been  granting  public-school  time  for  religious  instruction 
given  by  the  churches  and  the  system  has  not  lessened  the 
efficiency  of  the  public-school  program.  In  most  cases  it 
has  not  even  raised  problems  of  serious  proportions.  On 
the  contrary,  many  public-school  teachers  and  principals 
have  found  that  the  arrangement  has  distinct  advantages 
for  their  work.  The  moral  problem  is  the  most  important 
matter  with  which  the  public  school  has  to  deal.  A 
church  school  which  touches  the  religious  emotions,  and 
nurtures  them,  helps  the  public  school  in  its  most  difficult 
task,  and  many  public-school  teachers  are  conscious  that 
this  is  true. 

4.  The  churches  must  do  creditable  work  if  they 
expect  to  receive  public-school  time.  It  is  only 


144 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


right  that  the  public  schools  demand  efficient  instruction 
on  the  part  of  the  churches  if  they  are  to  yield  time  which 
is  already  being  used  for  the  profit  of  the  child.  Time 
which  is  being  used  profitably  must  not  be  given  up  to 
an  institution  which  will  use  it  unprofitably.  Churches 
must  take  their  educational  task  more  seriously  than  they 
have  been  accustomed  to  do  if  they  are  to  have  this  con¬ 
cession  on  the  part  of  the  public  schools.  They  ought  to 
show  a  course  of  study  which  is  comparable  with  public- 
school  courses  of  study.  They  ought  to  employ  a  teach¬ 
ing  force  which  is  up  to  public-school  standards  of  com¬ 
petency.  That  will  mean  a  trained  and  experienced 
teaching  force.  In  most  communities  it  will  mean  a 
paid  teaching  force. 

Adequate  Financial  Support 

Churches  must  be  brought  to  the  place  where  they  are 
willing  to  give  their  educational  work  more  adequate 
financial  support  than  it  is  now  receiving.  They  have 
not  been  educated  in  this  direction,  but  rather  away  from 
it.  The  penny-offering  basis  on  which  the  Sunday  school 
has  been  run,  with  its  system  of  wholly  volunteer  service, 
has  had  a  bad  effect  on  the  situation.  Churches  have 
come  to  believe  that  the  use  of  any  considerable  amount 
of  money  for  the  religious  education  of  the  children  of 
the  Church  is  not  to  be  expected;  whereas,  in  fact,  money 
can  hardly  be  spent  for  a  nobler  cause.  The  situation 
is  really  astonishing.  Churches  give  thousands  of  dollars 
to  missionary  enterprises  in  other  lands,  much  of  this 
money  going  into  educational  work  in  the  foreign  field, 
but  when  these  same  churches  are  asked  to  give  a  hundred 
dollars  or  so  for  some  phase  of  their  own  educational 
task,  the  request  is  looked  upon  as  unreasonable. 

1.  Doing  its  greatest  task  in  a  slipshod  way.  The 
spiritual  nurture  of  childhood  is  the  greatest  and  most 


PROVIDING  THE  PHYSICAL  CONDITIONS  145 

important  task  of  the  Church.  Protestant  Churches 
have  been  working  at  the  task  in  a  slipshod  way.  Their 
methods  have  been  slovenly,  archaic,  half-hearted. 
Their  policies  have  been  shortsighted  and  based  on  ill- 
advised  councils.  Can  all  these  ills  be  cured  without 
the  expenditure  of  more  money  on  education?  He  who 
says  that  if  they  cannot  be  cured  without  the  expendi¬ 
ture  of  more  money,  they  must  remain  uncured,  knows 
little  about  the  Pearl  of  great  price  and  the  standards  of 
value  which  were  set  up  by  the  Man  of  Nazareth. 

2.  Can  the  church  afford  not  to  put  more  money 
into  its  educational  work?  When  the  subject  of 
financial  support  for  the  church  school  comes  up,  people 
are  apt  to  ask,  first  of  all,  whether  the  Church  can  afford 
to  put  more  money  into  educational  work.  Perhaps 
we  should  be  wiser  if  we  asked  ourselves,  first  of  all, 
whether  the  Church  can  afford  not  to  do  this.  There  is 
a  good  deal  of  evidence  to  show  that  economy  in  this 
field  is  of  the  “penny-wise-and-pound-foolish”  kind. 
Empty  church  pews  and  depleted  church  treasuries  have 
some  direct  connection  with  a  poorly  planned  and  in¬ 
efficiently  conducted  church-school  system.  Church  at¬ 
tendance  is  largely  a  matter  of  education,  and  when 
people  do  not  form  the  habit  of  going  to  church  when  they 
are  young,  they  seldom  become  regular  church  attendants 
after  they  are  mature.  An  educational  system  conducted 
by  the  church  which  reaches  only  a  small  part  of  the 
children  it  ought  to  reach,  and  which  is  attended  irregularly 
by  most  of  the  children  who  attend  at  all,  is  training  up 
an  adult  generation  of  nonchurchgoers.  A  carefully 
planned  and  faithfully  executed  program  for  reaching  the 
children  and  for  training  them  in  worship  and  stewardship 
will  do  more  to  fill  the  churches  and  to  solve  their  financial 
problems  than  anything  else  the  churches  can  do. 


CHAPTER  X 


Establishing  Right  Relations  Between 
the  Church  School  and  Its 
Constituency 


CHAPTER  X 


Establishing  Right  Relations  Between  the  Church 
School  and  its  Constituency 

EFFECTIVE  teaching  is  very  largely  the  result  of 
right  relationships  between  the  school  and  its  con¬ 
stituency.  The  constituency  of  a  church  school  consists 
of  those  who  are  enrolled  as  pupils  and  those  who  ought 
to  be  enrolled  as  pupils,  together  with  the  whole  member¬ 
ship  of  the  church  carrying  on  the  school.  Parents  and 
guardians  of  children  who  are  enrolled  in  a  church  school 
ought  also  to  be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  church-school 
constituency,  even  though  they  are  not  members  of  the 
church  with  which  the  school  is  connected.  Right 
relations  between  a  church  school  and  its  constituency 
would  therefore  include  such  matters  as  the  enrollment  of 
pupils,  the  attendance  of  pupils,  the  orderly  conduct  of 
pupils  while  in  attendance  upon  church-school  classes, 
the  interest  of  pupils  in  the  curriculum  provided  for  their 
instruction,  the  attitude  of  pupils  toward  the  church 
school,  the  cooperation  of  the  pupils  with  the  teaching 
and  supervisory  agencies  of  the  school,  and  the  attitude 
of  the  general  membership  of  the  church  toward  the 
educational  program  which  the  church  is  carrying  on. 

Most  of  these  items  receive  careful  attention  from  public- 
school  educators.  They  find  a  prominent  place  in  public- 
school  standards.  They  are  of  even  greater  importance 
in  religious  education  than  they  are  in  secular  education, 
yet  the  writer  does  not  know  of  any  Sunday-school 
standard  that  names  even  one  of  them  among  its  items  of 
things  regarded  as  needful  for  successful  religious  educa¬ 
tion. 


149 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


15(* 


Enrollment 

It  is  estimated  that  there  is  in  our  country  an  army 
of  over  fifty  million  people  who  have  no  connection  with 
any  religious  organization.  This  army  of  the  unchurched 
has  resulted  largely  from  the  failure  of  the  church  schools 
to  reach  their  constituency  and  their  failure  to  hold  for 
any  extended  time  many  of  those  who  are  enrolled.  If  the 
public  schools  and  other  schools  of  our  country  which 
give  secular  instruction  were  reaching  less  than  half  of 
the  pupils  of  school  age,  a  few  generations  would  see  our 
nation  degenerate  into  one  of  the  most  illiterate  of  the 
nations  considered  to  be  civilized.  A  similar  failure  of  our 
church  school  has  already  gone  far  toward  making  us  a 
nation  of  spiritual  illiterates. 

1.  It  is  the  duty  of  each  church  school  to  find  out 
what  its  constituency  is.  The  failure  of  the  church 
school  to  reach  its  constituency  has  been  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  in  most  cases  the  church  school  has  had 
hazy  ideas  as  to  what  its  constituency  really  is.  Most 
church  schools  have  thought  of  the  constituency  of  a 
church  school  as  the  pupils  who  are  enrolled,  together 
with  an  indefinite  number  of  people  who  ought  to  be 
enrolled  in  the  church-school  classes.  The  vagueness 
concerning  the  latter  group  ought  to  be  cleared  away  by 
every  church  school  as  a  first  step  toward  a  real  accomplish¬ 
ment  of  its  task.  Sunday  schools  are  accustomed  to  display 
on  a  bulletin  board  figures  giving  information  concerning 
certain  matters  deemed  to  be  important.  There  are  few 
Sunday  schools  which  do  not  give  some  such  data  as  the 
following  either  on  their  bulletin  board  or  in  the  report 


read  by  the  secretary: 

Number  Enrolled .  510 

Attendance  To-day .  206 

Attendance  a  Year  Ago  To-day .  203 


ESTABLISHING  RIGHT  RELATIONS 


151 


Offering  To-day . $8.26 

Offering  a  Year  Ago  To-day . $8.75 

Teachers  Present .  15 

Teachers  Absent .  12 


Each  Sunday  school  ought  to  have,  in  addition  to  the 
above,  a  statement  as  to  the  number  of  people  of  the 
community  for  whose  spiritual  instruction  the  Sunday 
school  is  responsible.  If  this  item  came  first  in  the  list, 
the  bulletin  boards  of  our  Sunday  schools  would  usually 
begin  somewhat  after  the  following  fashion: 


Number  of  Pupils  in  the  Constituency 

of  the  Sunday  School . 1210 

Number  of  Pupils  enrolled  in  the  Sunday 
School .  510 


2.  It  is  not  difficult  to  find  out  what  the  constit¬ 
uency  of  a  church  school  is.  A  few  days  spent  in  a 
careful  house-to-house  canvass  will  reveal  the  church- 
school  constituency  of  every  church  in  the  community. 
The  constituency  of  any  church  school  will  consist  of 
the  families  which  are  members  of  the  church  which 
carries  on  the  school,  the  families  which  express  a  pre¬ 
ference  for  that  church,  and  a  certain  part  of  the  people 
who  say  they  have  no  preference  for  any  church,  but  who 
are  evidently  in  need  of  religious  instruction  and  who 
rightfully  belong  to  this  particular  church  school  because 
of  their  nearness  to  it,  their  religious  lineage,  or  other 
general  relationships  with  it.  Every  community  needs 
some  such  religious  educational  survey  as  will  reveal  the 
facts  which  have  been  indicated  and  the  survey  should  be 
made  often  to  keep  such  information  full  and  up-to-date. 

3.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  church  school  to  set  up 
machinery  for  reaching  its  constituency.  There  are 
communities  in  our  country  where  one  hundred  per  cent 
of  the  children  are  receiving  religious  instruction  most  of 


152 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


them  both  in  Sunday  school  and  in  week-day  church 
schools.  Such  communities  have  purged  themselves  of 
the  disgrace  which  attaches  to  a  community  in  which 
less  than  half  the  children  are  receiving  religious  instruc¬ 
tion.  In  the  communities  making  this  good  showing  the 
results  have  been  attained  by  systematic  effort.  Lists 
have  been  compiled  showing  the  name,  address,  age,  and 
church  relationships  of  every  child  in  the  community. 
Every  child’s  name  has  been  placed  upon  some  individual 
church-school  list  as  a  part  of  the  constituency  of  that 
school.  Committees  from  the  several  church  schools 
have  called  in  the  homes  which  have  children  and  young 
people  who  are  not  attending  any  church  school.  By 
going  at  the  task  in  this  systematic  way  and  by  deter¬ 
mining  beforehand  which  church  school  has  the  prior 
claim  on  each  child,  satisfactory  results  have  been  attained 
and  competition  between  church  schools  has  been 
eliminated.  That  which  has  been  accomplished  in  these 
few  communities  can  be  accomplished,  at  least  approxi¬ 
mately,  in  all  communities  where  similar  effort  is  made  and 
similar  plans  put  in  operation. 

Attendance 

Another  formidable  obstacle  to  church-school  efficiency 
consists  in  the  low  average  attendance.  American 
children  attend  Sunday  school,  on  the  average,  half  the 
time.  Sunday-school-teaching  is  difficult  at  best,  owing 
to  the  six-day  interval  between  lesson  periods.  When 
this  interval  is  doubled,  the  educative  process  becomes 
practically  impossible.  Children  who  attend  Sunday 
school  half  the  time  get  little  real  religious  education  in 
the  Sunday-school  classes. 

A  low  average  attendance  of  the  Sunday-school  pupils 
is  especially  disastrous  in  communities  where  the  Sunday 


ESTABLISHING  RIGHT  RELATIONS 


153 


school  is  the  only  agency  for  giving  public  instruction  in 
religion.  If  the  Sunday-school  instruction  is  supple¬ 
mented  by  week-day  religious  instruction  and  the  attend¬ 
ance  at  the  week-day  church-school  classes  is  kept  up  to 
a  high  average,  the  low  average  attendance  of  the  Sunday 
school  is  still  serious  but  need  not  be  disastrous.  The  serious¬ 
ness  of  the  Sunday-school  situation  is  reduced  still  more 
when  the  expressional  organizations  of  the  church  are  so 
planned  as  to  enroll  all  the  Sunday-school  pupils  and  to 
carry  on  a  program  of  activities  correlated  with  the  Sunday- 
school  work.  A  high  average  attendance  in  the  expressional 
organization  under  such  a  plan  of  correlation  as  has  been 
suggested,  Sunday  school,  week-day  church  school,  and 
expressional  organizations  working  on  a  unified  program, 
reduces  low  attendance  in  the  Sunday  school  to  a  place  of 
almost  minor  importance.  A  child  enrolled  in  Sunday 
school  and  attending  half  the  time,  of  course,  misses  half 
the  instruction  given  in  the  school,  and  the  educational 
result  is  far  less  than  half  what  it  might  have  been  be- 
because  the  educative  process  is  broken.  Let  us  suppose 
that  the  same  child  is  enrolled  in  a  correlated  church 
school  with  a  Sunday,  a  week-day,  and  an  expressional 
session.  Suppose  that  the  child  still  attends  the  Sunday 
session  only  half  the  time  but  is  regular  in  attendance  at 
the  other  sessions  of  the  school.  The  child  will,  under 
this  plan,  miss  not  one  half,  but  about  one  sixth  of  the  edu¬ 
cational  program  of  the  church  school.  For  a  church- 
school  pupil  to  be  present  at  five  sixths  of  the  church- 
school  sessions,  is  not  an  ideal  situation,  but  it  is  a  situa¬ 
tion  under  which  education  is  possible.  It  is  well  to 
keep  these  facts  in  mind  in  our  efforts  to  secure  an  efficient 
educational  system.  Conditions  in  American  life  are 
such  as  to  make  a  really  satisfactory  Sunday-school 
attendance  doubtful  of  attainment.  But  if  Sunday-school 
attendance  is  raised  to  as  high  an  average  as  possible  and 


154 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


if  the  Sunday  school  is  correlated  with  other  educational 
agencies  in  which  a  higher  average  is  secured  than  seems 
to  be  possible  in  the  Sunday  school,  an  efficient  program 
can  be  attained,  and  lack  of  high  average  attendance  in 
the  Sunday  school  will  not  defeat  the  goal  for  which  the 
church  school  strives. 

1.  Methods  of  securing  regular  attendance.  Since 
attendance  upon  church-school  classes  is  voluntary,  in 
the  sense  that  the  decision  to  be  present  or  absent  rests 
with  the  pupil  or  with  the  pupil’s  parents,  it  is  usually 
a  good  thing  for  the  church  school  to  use  devices  suited  for 
securing  regular  attendance.  Systems  in  which  buttons, 
pins,  and  other  tokens  of  approbation  are  given  to  pupils 
have  been  helpful  in  church  schools  where  they  have 
been  used  vigorously  and  wisely.  They  have  certain 
defects,  however.  They  do  not  appeal  to  the  highest 
motives.  They  are  apt  to  inspire  only  a  part  of  the 
student  body,  and  that  part  is  apt  to  be  least  in  need  of 
such  inspiration. 

2.  An  efficient  church  school  is  the  best  means 
of  securing  regular  attendance.  Good  teaching  is 
the  best  means  of  winning  new  recruits  for  the  church 
school  and  it  is  the  best  means  of  holding  them.  No 
system  of  rewards  can  make  up  for  a  deficient  program 
of  instruction  poorly  carried  out.  Drives  for  new  mem¬ 
bers  and  contests  between  rival  classes,  or  rival  schools, 
often  bring  in  floods  of  new  church-school  members;  but 
the  new  recruits  are  lost  quite  as  suddenly  as  they  are 
gained,  and  the  last  state  of  the  church  school  thus  be¬ 
comes  worse  than  the  first.  Campaigns  for  increasing 
church-school  enrollment  have  thus  come  somewhat  into 
disrepute  and  there  are  a  good  many  things  to  be  said 
against  certain  methods  which  have  been  used  in  such 
efforts.  The  sudden  loss  of  new  pupils  is  often  due, 
however,  to  the  fact  that  the  church  school  did  not  have 


ESTABLISHING  RIGHT  RELATIONS 


155 


a  teaching  program  which  was  fitted  to  hold  the  new 
recruits  rather  than  to  any  defect  in  the  methods  used  to 
secure  the  increased  enrollment. 

Punctuality 

The  efficiency  of  many  church  schools  is  marred  by 
the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  teachers  and  pupils 
are  habitually  late.  Tardiness  is  watched  with  constant 
care  in  the  public  schools.  Means  are  found  for  practi¬ 
cally  eliminating  it  there.  No  public  school  could  make 
any  reasonable  claim  to  being  standard  if  its  pupils  were 
in  the  habit  of  coming  late.  Tardiness  is  far  more  serious 
in  the  church  school  than  it  is  in  the  public  school.  The 
time  of  the  church  school  is  so  meager  at  best  that  a  few 
minutes  lost  through  tardiness  is  a  serious  matter.  The 
tardy  pupil  misses  a  part  or  the  whole  of  what  ought  to 
be  the  most  important  part  of  the  church-school  session, 
the  opening  service  of  worship.  He  also  frequently  dis¬ 
turbs  the  whole  school  by  his  untimely  arrival  in  the 
midst  of  the  opening  service. 

1.  Causes  of  tardiness  in  the  church  school.  The 
best  way  to  cure  tardiness  is  to  search  out  its  underlying 
causes  and  then  work  for  the  removal  of  these  causes, 
one  by  one.  Tardiness  on  a  large  scale  in  the  church 
school  is  often  traceable  to  the  school  itself.  If  the  Sun¬ 
day  school  is  scheduled  to  begin  at  10  A.  M.  and  it  habitu¬ 
ally  begins  at  about  seven  minutes  after  ten,  it  is  quite 
certain  that  pupils  will  fall  into  the  habit  of  dropping  in 
about  10:15.  Tardiness  grows  in  the  church  school 
because  no  notice  is  taken  of  it.  In  public  school,  teachers 
"make  a  fuss”  when  a  pupil  comes  late  and  the  pupil  is 
moved  to  make  an  added  effort  to  be  punctual.  Tardiness 
sometimes  results  because  pupils  and  their  parents  fall 
into  the  habit  of  thinking  that  it  is  all  right  if  the  pupil 


156  A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 

reaches  his  class  in  time  for  the  study  of  the  lesson.  The 
opening  service  is  not  duly  appreciated.  The  remedy 
lies  in  making  the  opening  service  so  important  and  so 
interesting  that  pupils  will  know  that  they  are  missing 
something  by  being  tardy. 

2.  Public  opinion  the  best  cure  for  tardiness. 

Many  devices  for  the  cure  of  tardiness  have  been  proposed 
and  tried.  Some  have  been  of  demonstrated  value.  The 
best  cure  of  tardiness  in  the  public  school  has  been  found 
to  be  the  creation  of  a  public  opinion  throughout  the 
student  body  which  makes  the  tardy  pupil  feel  that  every 
tardiness  discredits  him  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow  students. 
There  are  public  schools  where  tardiness  is  exceedingly 
rare,  because  it  is  regarded  as  a  disgrace  to  be  late  at 
school  unless  there  is  some  unavoidable  cause  of  delay. 


Orderly  Conduct 

There  can  be  no  teaching  of  much  value  unless  pupils 
are  orderly  and  attentive.  One  of  the  first  things  a 
trained  supervisor  of  education  notes  on  entering  a  school¬ 
room  is  the  condition  of  the  room  as  to  order,  interest, 
and  attentiveness.  He  knows  that  if  there  is  disorder 
and  confusion  and  lack  of  attention  and  evident  absence 
of  compelling  interest,  the  teaching  process  is  not  going 
on  as  it  should.  He  knows  that  the  teacher  is  wasting 
her  efforts  and  that  the  pupils  are  getting  less  than  they 
should  get  out  of  the  recitation  period.  Disorder  has 
been  a  prevalent  foe  to  church-school  efficiency.  Like 
so  many  other  defective  relationships  heretofore  noted  in 
this  chapter,  disorder  is  more  deplorable  in  the  church 
school  than  in  the  school  which  ministers  to  the  secular 
education  of  children.  Worship  is  an  important  part  of 
church-school  activity  and  worship  and  disorder  cannot 
go  on  together. 


ESTABLISHING  RIGHT  RELATIONS 


157 


1.  Church-school  teachers  ought  to  be  strict 
disciplinarians.  It  is  a  part  of  the  task  of  the  church- 
school  teacher  to  maintain  order  in  the  schoolroom.  To 
let  children  run  wild  in  the  school  of  the  church  is  a  great 
mistake.  It  is  doing  a  wrong  to  all  the  children  in  the 
school.  It  wrongs  the  obedient  child  who  comes  from  a 
well-governed  home  and  who  is  inclined  to  be  reverent 
in  the  church  school;  but  it  wrongs  still  more  the  unruly 
child  who  is  the  creator  of  the  disorder.  Church-school 
discipline  must  not  be  harsh,  but  it  must  be  firm,  even, 
and  persevering.  Fears  that  the  pupils  will  leave  the 
school  if  they  are  kept  under  firm  discipline  are  almost 
wholly  groundless.  Children  come  to  admire  and  respect 
teachers  who  control  them  with  kind  but  unwavering 
firmness.  They  lose  respect  for  teachers,  and  for  a  school, 
when  they  can  do  as  they  please.  It  seems  certain  that 
ten  children  leave  Sunday  school  because  the  order  is 
poor  for  every  one  who  leaves  Sunday  school  because  the 
teachers  are  too  strict. 

2.  An  orderly  church-school  program  will  help 
pupils  to  be  orderly.  The  church-school  program  is 
often  carried  on  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  disorder  among 
the  pupils  almost  inevitable.  If  a  half  dozen  classes  are 
gathered  within  a  small  space  and  each  teacher  must 
shout  a  little  louder  than  his  colleagues  in  order  to  be 
heard,  disorder  and  inattention  will  necessarily  result. 
If  the  superintendent  carries  on  a  disorderly  opening 
service,  broken  by  intervals  when  he  is  seeking  for  a  song 
or  conferring  with  some  of  his  helpers  while  the  opening 
service  runs  along  without  a  leader  for  a  while,  the  dis¬ 
order  of  the  opening  of  the  school  will  be  carried  over  into 
the  classroom  periods,  and  it  will  take  a  skilled  teacher  to 
win  the  quiet  and  attention  necessary  for  the  study  of  the 
lesson. 


158 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


3.  Good  teaching  is  an  almost  sure  cure  for  dis¬ 
order.  Skilled  teachers  can  make  the  recitation  period 
so  interesting  that  most  of  the  pupils  will  forget  to  be 
disorderly.  But  let  the  teacher  grow  dull  and  his  pre¬ 
sentation  of  the  lesson  uninteresting  and  vigorous  young 
minds  will  quickly  find  something  interesting  with  which 
to  busy  themselves.  Good  teaching  is  an  almost  sure 
cure  for  disorder.  It  is  not  absolutely  sure,  because  there 
are  pupils  of  a  mischievous  turn  of  mind  who  are  deter¬ 
mined  to  try  a  teacher  out  and  who  are  likewise  deter¬ 
mined  that  they  will  not  be  interested.  Often  these 
mischievous  youngsters  are  among  the  best  pupils  in 
the  class  when  they  learn  that  their  teacher  is  wise  enough 
to  insist  on  good  order  in  the  class  and  strong  enough  to 
secure  it. 

Loyalty 

We  might  sum  up  the  relations  which  ought  to  exist 
between  a  church  school  and  its  constituency  in  the  fine 
word  “  loyalty.  ”  Loyalty  to  the  church  school  on  the 
part  of  the  pupils,  their  parents,  and  the  whole  member¬ 
ship  of  the  church,  will  go  far  toward  removing  every 
difficulty  which  has  thus  far  been  mentioned  in  this 
chapter.  Loyalty  to  the  church  school  sets  teachers, 
officers,  pupils,  and  friends  of  the  school  at  work  recruiting 
new  members.  Loyalty  to  the  school  cures  a  low  average 
attendance,  and,  when  rightly  appealed  to,  wipes  out 
tardiness.  Disorderly  conduct  that  is  really  dangerous 
is  usually  tainted  with  some  disloyalty  to  the  school  or 
some  contempt  for  its  methods  of  carrying  on  its  work. 
The  heart  of  youth  is  so  naturally  inclined  to  be  loyal 
that  it  is  strange  that  the  church  school  has  not  made 
more  of  this  opportunity  for  getting  a  strong  hold  on  its 
pupils. 

1.  Church-school  loyalty  can  be  cultivated. 

People  are  instinctively  loyal  to  that  in  which  they  have 


ESTABLISHING  RIGHT  RELATIONS 


159 


a  share  and  to  which  they  are  closely  related.  Give  the 
pupils  such  a  part  in  the  conduct  of  the  church  school 
that  they  will  come  to  feel  that  it  is  their  school,  and  they 
will  be  loyal  to  it.  The  student  body  should  be  given 
representation  on  the  governing  board  of  the  school. 
Pupils  should  be  represented  in  departmental  organiza¬ 
tions.  In  many  schools  some  form  of  student  govern¬ 
ment  has  been  found  to  work  well  and  to  result  in  a  strong 
sense  of  loyalty  among  the  pupils.  Pupils  must  come  to 
feel  toward  the  church  school  the  kind  of  loyalty  they  feel 
toward  their  nation  when  they  say  understanding^, 
“This  is  my  own,  my  native  land.” 

2.  Loyalty  must  be  wisely  directed.  Even  such  a 
noble  characteristic  as  loyalty  may  be  so  misdirected  that 
it  becomes  a  menace  to  the  church  school.  It  has  occa¬ 
sionally  happened  that  shortsighted  Sunday-school 
teachers  have  so  fully  developed  the  loyalty  of  their 
pupils  and  confined  it  so  exclusively  to  the  class  of  which 
these  pupils  were  members  that  a  practical  disloyalty  to 
the  school  as  a  whole,  and  to  the  church  which  was  carry¬ 
ing  on  the  school,  has  resulted.  Sometimes  outside 
organizations  have  set  up  their  plans  within  the  individual 
church  and  brought  about  a  condition  of  divided  loyalty 
which  is  unfortunate. 

It  would  be  well  for  all  church-school  teachers  to  deter¬ 
mine  that  the  loyalty  of  their  pupils  shall  not  end  with  the 
class  organization  or  with  the  teacher  of  the  class,  but 
that  it  shall  go  on  and  become  an  abiding  loyalty  to  the 
church  school  as  a  whole,  to  the  church  which  supports 
the  school,  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  which  the  Church  is 
seeking  to  set  up  in  the  world,  and  to  him  who  is  the 
Head  of  the  Church  and  the  Founder  of  the  Kingdom. 
Loyalty  which  does  not  reach  this  goal  has  suffered  from 
arrested  development. 


' 


■ 


CHAPTER  XI 


The  Central  Program  of  Information, 
Worship  and  Expression 


CHAPTER  XI 


The  Central  Program  of  Information,  Worship, 

and  Expression 

IT  is  coming  to  be  recognized  that  the  individual  church 
has  a  threefold  task  in  education.  As  has  been  sug¬ 
gested  in  a  preceding  chapter,  this  threefold  task  consists 
of  a  program  of  religious  education  in  the  home  which 
is  carried  on  under  the  inspiration,  guidance,  and  assist¬ 
ance  of  the  church;  of  a  program  of  leadership  training 
maintained  by  the  individual  church  working  independ¬ 
ently  or  in  cooperation  with  other  churches,  and  of  what 
we  have  called  a  central  program  of  information,  worship, 
and  expression.  It  is  with  this  last-named  phase  of  the 
educational  program  of  the  individual  church  that  we 
are  to  deal  in  this  chapter. 

Practically  every  church  carries  out  this  central  program 
in  some  form.  It  may  have  only  a  Sunday  school  and 
preaching  services,  yet  through  these  two  agencies  it 
seeks  to  give  religious  information,  to  develop  the  spirit 
of  worship,  and  to  lead  people  to  give  expression  to  their 
religious  life  in  acts  of  service  and  in  the  maintenance  of 
high  standards  of  character.  Most  individual  churches, 
however,  have  many  agencies  of  education,  and  a  problem 
of  major  importance  in  religious  educational  circles  just 
now  is  how  to  bring  all  these  agencies  into  an  orderly 
educational  system  for  the  individual  church.  A  long 
step  toward  the  development  of  a  unified  program  of 
education  for  the  individual  church  has  been  made  by  the 
organization  of  what  have  come  to  be  called  correlated 
schools  of  religious  education.  In  these  schools  the  work 
of  the  Sunday  school,  the  week-day  church  school,  the 

163 


164 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Christian  Endeavor  societies,  and  the  club  activities  are 
brought  under  one  governing  body,  have  a  central  program 
of  information  with  which  the  worship  services,  and  the 
expressional  activities  are  correlated,  and  strive  together, 
without  overlapping  or  competition,  for  the  attainment 
of  certain  common  goals. 

This  central  program  has  to  do,  of  course,  with  the 
whole  range  of  Sunday-school  membership  from  the 
Beginners  to  the  oldest  members  of  the  Adult  Depart¬ 
ment.  In  religious  education,  the  great  opportunity  for 
the  majority  of  people  lies  between  the  age  of  six  years 
and  about  the  age  of  seventeen  years.  In  the  public 
school  this  is  the  span  of  life  from  the  first  grade  to  the 
end  of  the  high  school.  In  the  church  school  it  covers 
the  ages  from  the  first  year  of  the  Primary  Department 
to  the  last  year  of  the  Senior  Department.  It  is  for  this 
group  that  the  correlated  school  plans  to  furnish  a  unified 
and  efficient  program  of  religious  education.  It  is  in 
this  period  that  a  strong  program  of  education  must  be 
furnished  by  the  church  if  the  religious  educational  task 
is  to  be  done  in  a  satisfactory  way.  It  is  here  that  more 
time  for  religious  education  is  most  sorely  needed.  It  is 
here  that  adequate  supervision  and  trained  teaching  must 
be  supplied  if  the  church  school  is  to  rank  with  the  public 
school  as  an  educational  institution.  Under  the  correlated 
school  plan,  the  week-day  church  school  becomes  in 
reality  the  week-day  session  of  the  church  school,  the 
Sunday  school  becomes  the  Sunday  session,  the  Christian 
Endeavor  society  the  expressional  session,  and  the  daily  va¬ 
cation  Bible  school  the  Summer  session  of  the  church  school. 
All  these  sessions  are  parts  of  one  school,  they  are  under  one 
administrative  and  supervisory  body;  their  organization 
is  uniform — Juniors,  Intermediates,  and  other  like  terms 
refer  to  definite  groups  of  the  church  school,  which  are 
the  same  groups  in  all  sessions  of  the  school.  There  is 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


165 


one  curriculum,  parts  of  which  are  assigned  to  the  various 
church-school  sessions.  How  these  various  agencies,  or 
sessions  of  the  church  school,  work  together  in  a  unified 
educational  program  will  now  be  considered. 

The  Week-Day  Session 

The  number  of  communities  carrying  on  week-day 
religious  instruction  increased  fourfold  during  the  school 
year  of  1921-1922.  The  increase  of  the  movement  is 
shown  in  graphic  form  in  the  chart  on  page  166.  The  chart 
also  shows  that  growth  of  each  of  the  three  church-school 
types.  Type  I  or  the  individual  church  tj^pe  of  week-day 
church  school,  is  that  form  in  which  week-day  religious 
instruction  is  given  as  a  part  of  the  educational  program 
of  an  individual  church,  the  week-day  church  school 
being  under  the  control  of  the  church  in  the  same  way 
that  the  Sunday  school  is  under  the  control  of  the  church. 
Type  II,  or  the  denominational  community  type  of  week¬ 
day  church  school,  is  like  Type  I  in  so  far  as  the  week-day 
church  schools  are  concerned,  but  there  is  an  overhead 
interdenominational  organization  which  has  general  and 
advisory  oversight  of  the  week-day  work  of  the  churches. 
This  organization  attends  to  such  matters  as  the  securing 
of  public-school  time  for  religious  instruction  to  be  given 
in  the  churches,  and  public-school  credits  for  work  ac¬ 
complished  in  the  week-day  church  schools.  Type  III, 
or  the  interdenominational  plan  for  week-day  religious 
education,  differs  from  the  two  preceding  types  in  that 
the  week-day  religious  instruction  is  under  the  control 
of  an  interdenominational  board,  or  council,  made  up  of 
representatives  from  the  churches.  In  this  type  there  is 
one  course  of  study  for  all  the  week-day  church  schools 
in  the  system,  one  governing  body,  and  one  supervisory 
agency.  Under  this  plan  there  can,  of  course,  be  no  very 


166 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


close  unity  between  the  Sunday  schools  and  other  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  of  the  individual  church  and  the  week-day 
church  schools.  At  least,  this  is  not  possible  just  now 
because  of  the  great  diversity  of  lesson  materials  used 
in  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  various  denominations. 

The  week-day  church-school  movement  seems  to  be 
developing  in  the  direction  of  the  individual  church-school 


Development  of  Ween  Day  Church  School  Types 


type.  This  is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  this  type 
enables  an  individual  church  to  incorporate  week-day 
religious  instruction  into  a  unified  program  of  religious 
education.  A  similar  movement  took  place  with  regard 
to  the  Sunday  schools  nearly  a  hundred  years  ago.  They 
began  outside  of  the  churches  and  were  gradually  taken 
over  by  the  churches  and  made  their  main  educational 
agency.  The  same  movement  is  going  on  with  regard  to  * 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


167 


daily  vacation  Bible  schools.  So  it  is  a  safe  prediction 
that  the  churches  will  make  week-day  religious  instruc¬ 
tion  a  definite  part  of  a  unified  program  of  education 
which  they  maintain  either  individually  or,  in  certain 
phases,  cooperatively. 

1.  Relations  with  the  public  schools.  It  is  very 
helpful  for  the  church  school  to  have  a  plan  of  cooperation 
with  the  public  schools  whereby  pupils  are  dismissed  from 
the  public  schools  at  stated  periods  in  order  that  they 
may  receive  religious  instruction  in  the  church  schools. 
Public-school  credits  for  the  work  done  in  the  church 
schools  is  not  so  important  as  public-school  time,  but  it 
is  helpful,  especially  in  high-school  classes. 

2.  Teaching  force.  Since  the  week-day  session  of  the 
church  school  is  charged  with  the  main  part  of  the  infor¬ 
mational  program,  its  teachers  must  be  skilled  educators. 
If  the  church  school  is  to  secure  and  keep  time  concessions 
from  the  public-school  authorities  and  is  to  do  work 
worthy  of  public-school  credit,  there  must  be  efficient 
teaching.  This  will  mean  a  trained  and  experienced 
teaching  force,  and  efficient  supervision.  In  most  com¬ 
munities  this  kind  of  teaching  and  this  kind  of  supervision 
must  receive  financial  compensation.  There  are  week¬ 
day  schools  in  which  excellent  work  is  being  done  by 
volunteer  teachers,  but  these  schools  are  an  exception 
and  their  number  is  small. 

3.  The  curriculum.  The  course  of  study  for  a  week¬ 
day  church  school  which  performs  the  function  of  a  week¬ 
day  session  for  a  correlated  school  of  religious  education  in 
an  individual  church  must  be  a  part  of  the  general  church- 
school  curriculum.  The  material  for  teaching  will,  of 
course,  be  graded,  either  after  the  closely  graded  plan  or 
after  the  departmental  graded  plan.  The  latter  plan  has 
certain  advantages  in  a  correlated  program,  because  under 
this  system  of  grading  it  is  possible  for  the  whole  depart- 


168 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


ment  to  worship  together  in  a  service  centered  on  the 
general  lesson  topic  for  the  week.  It  is  also  possible  under 
the  departmental  lesson  plan  to  have  one  expressional 
organization  in  which  all  the  pupils  of  the  department 
meet  to  join  in  practical  discussions  concerning  the  truths 
taught  in  the  week-day  meeting  and  on  Sunday  and  to 
carry  out  plans  growing  out  of  the  religious  truths  they 
have  learned. 

4.  The  daily  program.  In  most  schools  the  week-day 
session  begins  with  a  short  period  of  worship  in  which 
pupils  have  a  share.  Some  schools  spend  a,  few  minutes 
each  day  in  memorizing  Scripture,  or  in  the  study  of 
great  hymns  of  the  Church.  The  main  feature  of  the 
session  is  the  lesson  period  of  from  twenty  to  fifty  minutes. 
The  length  of  the  lesson  period  is  determined  by  the  age 
of  the  pupils.  The  method  is  suited  to  the  capacities  of 
the  pupils,  stories  being  used  largely  in  the  lower  grades 
and  topical  discussions  in  the  higher  grades.  Handwork 
suited  to  emphasize  and  explain  the  lesson  is  usually  made 
a  feature  of  the  lower  grade  work.  Sometimes  the  objects 
made  by  the  pupils  are  sent  to  hospitals,  orphanages,  or 
mission  fields,  and  the  handwork  is  thus  given  added 
educational  value. 

5.  The  place  of  meeting.  When  pupils  are  dismissed 
from  the  public  schools  one  class  at  a  time,  in  order  to 
give  them  a  chance  to  go  to  the  church  schools,  the  place 
where  the  church-school  classes  are  held  must  be  con¬ 
veniently  near  the  public-school  building.  If  the  pupils 
are  dismissed  from  the  public  schools  the  last  hour  of  the 
public-school  day,  the  church  schools  may  be  at  a  con¬ 
siderable  distance  from  the  public-school  buildings  since 
the  pupils  go  from  the  churches  to  their  homes. 

6.  Good  teaching  conditions.  Since  the  week-day 
session  of  the  church  school  is  to  be  up  to  public-school 
standards,  good  conditions  for  teaching  will  need  to  be 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


169 


provided.  The  classes  will  need  to  be  comfortably  housed 
in  rooms  that  are  suitable  for  teaching  activity.  The 
work  must  not  be  allowed  to  suffer  because  of  the  lack  of 
suitable  equipment. 

The  Sunday  Session 

In  the  correlated  school  the  Sunday  session  is  made 
primarily  responsible  for  the  training  of  the  pupils  in 
worship.  The  lesson  materials  are  chosen,  whenever 
possible,  with  this  end  in  view.  Information  is,  of  course, 
not  excluded,  but  the  main  objective  of  the  session  is  the 
awakening  of  the  deeper  religious  emotions  and  their 
expression  in  praise  and  devotion  and  Christian  fellow¬ 
ship  in  worship. 

1.  An  opening  service  of  worship  in  each  depart¬ 
ment.  Whenever  the  size  of  the  Sunday  school  is  such 
as  to  make  it  advisable,  and  the  arrangements  of  the 
church  building  make  it  possible,  each  department  has 
its  own  opening  service  of  worship.  Pupils  are  given  a 
large  share  in  this  service.  It  is  only  thus  that  they  can 
receive  real  training  in  the  forms  and  in  the  spirit  of  wor¬ 
ship.  In  many  schools  pupils  take  up  the  offering  in  this 
opening  service.  They  join  in  unison  prayers  following 
the  superintendent  of  the  department  or  a  teacher. 
Some  pupils  have  become  accustomed  in  these  opening 
services  to  lead  in  public  prayer.  This  can  be  accom¬ 
plished  without  their  becoming  priggish;  neither  is  it 
necessary  for  the  child’s  participation  in  worship  to  be 
only  an  imitation  of  the  worship  forms  of  older  people. 
Both  these  faults  may  be  avoided  by  the  efforts  of  com¬ 
petent  teachers. 

2.  A  service  of  worship  in  eafch  class.  Each  Sunday- 
school  class  may  be  made  a  prayer  group.  The  class 
presents  some  conditions  for  training  in  worship  which 


170 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


are  more  favorable  than  the  conditions  in  the  depart¬ 
mental  opening  service.  The  class  meeting  is  not  so 
public  as  the  departmental  meeting.  Timid  pupils  take 
part  more  readily  because  this  is  true.  The  teacher 
comes  into  more  personal  touch  and  into  closer  sympathy 
with  each  pupil  than  it  is  possible  for  the  leader  of  the 
departmental  service  to  do.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
Sunday-school  lesson  period  may  not  become  an  agency 
for  the  development  of  worship  second  only  to  family 
devotions  in  the  home. 

3.  The  devotional  study  of  great  hymns.  The 

Sunday  session  of  the  church  school  is  peculiarly  suited 
to  the  devotional  study  of  the  great  hymns  of  the  Church. 
Many  of  the  greatest  truths  of  the  Christian  religion  are 
admirably  expressed  in  song.  The  songs  of  the  Church 
begin  to  have  power  over  life  even  when  they  are  still 
very  imperfectly  understood  by  the  child.  The  melody 
and  a  word  comprehended  here  and  there  will  write  deep 
impressions  on  the  soul  of  a  boy  or  a  girl;  but  when  the 
hymn  is  explained,  its  truths  illustrated,  and  its  words 
fully  memorized,  the  hymn  becomes  a  source  of  character 
control  far  beyond  that  which  is  possible  with  an  imperfect 
understanding  of  it.  Many  of  our  greatest  hymns  are 
best  presented  in  connection  with  the  Biblical  setting 
where  they  peculiarly  belong.  Any  youth  who  can  enter 
sympathetically  into  the  story  of  young  Jacob  in  his 
lonely  night  at  Bethel  can  comprehend  the  fundamental 
truths  contained  in  the  hymn,  “  Nearer,  my  God,  to 
Thee.”  The  hymn  and  the  story  belong  together,  and 
when  they  are  taught  together  each  will  help  to  make  the 
other  more  impressive. 

The  Expressional  Session 

As  has  been  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter,  a  program 
of  expression  is  a  matter  of  very  great  importance  in 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


171 


religious  education.  Without  such  a  completing  of  the 
educative  process  as  is  possible  when  religious  truth  is 
given  expression  in  action,  religious  information  is  apt 
to  result  in  a  barren  intellectualism,  and  religious  emotion 
is  apt  to  degenerate  into  erratic  emotionalism.  A  good 
many  churches  are  still  without  any  definite  'plans  for 
this  important  phase  of  the  educative  process.  Many 
other  churches  are  still  carrying  on  their  expressional  work 
as  though  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  educational  effort 
of  the  various  other  agencies  of  the  church  engaged  in  the 
teaching  task.  The  central  principle  of  the  correlated 
school  lies  in  a  plan  to  make  the  expressional  activities  a 
definite  carrying  over  into  life  and  character  of  the  religious 
truths  taught  in  the  week-day  sessions  of  the  church  school 
and  the  definite  control  of  conduct  by  motives  which  have 
sprung  from  the  emotionalizing  of  religious  ideas  in  wor¬ 
ship.  The  correlated  school  is  built  on  the  belief  that  an 
idea  emotionalized  becomes  an  ideal,  and  that  an  ideal 
given  expression  becomes  a  habit,  and  that  right  habits 
lay  the  foundations  of  righteous  character. 

1.  The  expressional  session  is  the  pupils'  own 
meeting.  The  development  of  self-expression  and  religious 
initiative  has  always  been  the  strong  point  of  the  expres¬ 
sional  organization  for  young  people.  The  expressional 
meeting  has  been  their  own.  The  need  for  a  tactful 
superintendent  for  the  expressional  meetings  of  Juniors 
and  Intermediates  is  a  need  which  is  never  absent,  but 
the  best  superintendent  is  the  one  who  can  guide  and 
govern  without  seeming  to  do  so. 

It  is  customary  and  desirable  that  some  member  of  the 
student  body  should  preside  at  the  expressional  meeting. 
Pupils  usually  take  turn  in  leading  the  meetings.  The 
expressional  meeting  deals  with  the  problem  of  applying 
religious  truth  to  life.  It  is,  therefore,  adapted  to  the 
use  of  what  has  come  to  be  called  the  problem-project 


I 


172  A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 

method  of  teaching.  The  putting  into  practice  of  the 
truths  which  have  been  presented  in  the  other  ses¬ 
sions  of  the  church  school  will  often  lead  to  under¬ 
takings  which  will  cover  several  weeks  or  even  a  longer 
period. 

2.  Skilled  superintendence  for  the  expressional 
session  indispensable.  There  is  no  part  of  the  church- 
school  program  which  requires  the  guidance  of  skilled 
educators  more  than  does  the  expressional  session.  If 
the  educative  process  falls  short  here,  the  religious  knowl¬ 
edge  gained  will  fail  to  have  its  full  fruitage  in  conduct 
control.  The  superintendent  must  have  that  creative 
genius  which  is  able  to  seize  upon  present  situations  and 
mold  them  into  potent  educative  forces  which  will  result 
in  high  types  of  religious  life  and  righteous  character. 
The  superintendent  of  the  expressional  meeting  needs  to 
know  young  life  profoundly  and  to  be  of  that  type  of 
personality  which  wins  the  respect  of  children  and  youth 
thus  controlling  these  young  folks  potently  through  the 
development  of  inner  impulses. 

3.  The  expressional  phase  of  religious  education 
includes  social  and  recreational  activities.  The 
expressional  program  is  best  administered  when  it  touches 
all  phases  of  the  pupils’  lives.  The  goal  is  the  applica¬ 
tion  of  the  principles  of  Christianity  to  the  whole  of  life. 
Expressional  activities  must  therefore  go  beyond  the 
mere  discussion  of  religious  truth  and  a  few  projects 
intended  to  fix  these  truths  in  the  life  habits  of  the  pupils. 
Boys’  clubs,  girls’  clubs,  and  such  other  social  organiza¬ 
tions,  are  in  certain  churches  being  made  important 
factors  in  the  expressional  program  of  the  correlated 
school.  There  are  opportunities  in  athletics  and  in  other 
forms  of  recreation  for  the  practice  of  religious  living. 
The  skilled  superintendent  finds  in  these  daily  experiences 
of  the  pupils  the  very  best  opportunities  for  giving  re- 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


173 


ligious  truth  that  expression  which  will  make  it  a  lasting 
power  in  the  lives  of  the  young  people. 

The  Summer  Session 

The  daily  vacation  Bible  school  movement  has  called 
the  attention  of  church  people  to  the  opportunity  for 
supplemental  religious  education  in  the  summer  vacation 
season.  A  standard  vacation  Bible  school  held  for  five 
weeks  in  the  summer  gives  as  much  time  for  religious 
education  as  is  given  in  a  whole  year  of  Sunday-school 
work,  and  the  vacation  school  has  the  added  advantage 
of  a  good  teaching  arrangement,  the  recitation  periods 
being  long  enough  for  a  full  and  varied  program  and  coming 
on  successive  days.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  vacation 
school  movement  has  spread  so  rapidly,  seeing  that  with 
a  comparatively  simple  effort  a  church  can  practically 
double  its  time  for  religious  education  by  organizing  one 
of  these  summer  schools  for  children.  The  only  strange 
element  in  the  situation  lies  in  the  fact  that  many  churches 
have  not  seized  this  opportunity  for  supplementing  the 
work  of  their  Sunday  schools. 

1.  The  vacation  school  is  most  beneficial  when  it  is 
made  a  part  of  the  educational  program  of  the 
individual  church.  There  may  be  communities  where 
the  interdenominational  vacation  school  is  preferable  to 
the  vacation  school  which  forms  a  part  of  the  teaching 
program  of  an  individual  church.  This  is  sometimes  the 
case  in  foreign-speaking  sections  of  our  cities.  In  small 
towns  which  are  shamefully  overchurched  it  is  sometimes 
better  for  all  the  churches  to  go  together  and  have  one 
strong  vacation  school  than  for  each  church  to  have  a 
small  and  poor  school  of  its  own.  In  the  typical  American 
community,  however,  the  vacation  school  which  forms  a 
definite  part  of  the  program  of  an  individual  church  seems 


174 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


to  be  the  preferable  type.  The  movement  is  certainly 
setting  strongly  in  the  direction  of  this  kind  of  school. 
Churches  are  taking  over  the  vacation  school  as  a  part 
of  their  educational  program  and  are  seeking  more  and 
more  to  correlate  its  work  with  the  work  of  other  educa¬ 
tional  agencies  in  the  church. 

2.  The  vacation  school  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  cer¬ 
tain  types  of  educational  work.  The  longer  daily  ses¬ 
sions  of  the  vacation  school  and  the  fact  that  the  classes 
meet  on  consecutive  days  make  it  possible  to  do  certain 
kinds  of  educational  work  in  this  school  which  are  difficult 
or  practically  impossible  in  the  week-day  and  the  Sunday 
session.  Certain  types  of  craft  work,  such  as  the  building 
of  a  model  of  Solomon’s  Temple,  can  be  accomplished 
in  the  vacation  school  without  much  difficulty.  There 
is  time  enough  to  accomplish  something  definite  every 
day  and  the  short  time  which  intervenes  between  the 
working  periods  does  not  result  in  a  loss  of  interest.  The 
commingling  of  story,  song,  play,  and  handwork  in  a 
vacation  school  is  quite  in  accord  with  modern  ideas  as 
to  what  education  at  its  best  ought  to  include.  The 
vacation  school,  therefore,  gives  the  teachers  an  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  guide  the  pupils  into  project  activities  which 
will  have  potent  educational  value.  It  is  the  opinion  of 
the  writer,  however,  that  educational  projects  are  most 
potent  when  they  are  builded  on  such  a  foundation  of 
information  and  worship  and  expression  as  has  been 
suggested  in  preceding  paragraphs.  He  believes,  there¬ 
fore,  that  the  projects  of  the  vacation  school  will  be  most 
useful  when  they  are  the  natural  carrying  over  into  life 
of  the  religious  truths  which  have  been  made  clear  and 
impressive  and  in  a  measure  conduct-compelling  in  the 
regular  work  of  the  church  school.  Projects  lose  much  of 
their  value  when  they  are  not  an  integral  part  of  a  reli¬ 
gious  educational  program  having  orderly  instruction. 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


175 


The  Advantages  of  Such  a  Central  Program  of 
Information,  Worship,  and  Expression 
as  Has  Been  Outlined  in 
This  Chapter 

In  closing  it  may  be  useful  to  sum  up  some  of  the 
definite  advantages  of  the  plan  we  have  been  considering. 
It  is  not  offered  as  a  cure-all  for  every  ill  with  which 
the  educational  work  of  the  Church  is  afflicted,  but  it 
has  demonstrated  its  ability  to  meet  successfully  some  of 
the  major  educational  problems  of  the  church  and  it  has 
gone  a  considerable  way  toward  their  full  solution.  Any 
plan  which  has  such  a  record  deserves  careful  considera¬ 
tion  from  all  who  have  this  great  task  of  the  church  at 
heart. 

1.  The  correlated  church  school  has  done  much  to 
secure  more  adequate  time  for  religious  education. 

How  to  secure  more  adequate  time  for  religious  instruction 
is  a  major  problem  in  the  educational  work  of  the  Church. 
In  many  churches  working  under  the  old  plan  of  inde¬ 
pendent  educational  agencies,  ninety  per  cent  of  the 
church-school  pupils  attend  only  the  Sunday  school. 
Thus  a  large  majority  of  the  children  and  young  people 
dependent  on  that  church  for  religious  education  receive 
only  fifty-two  hours  of  religious  instruction  in  a  year, 
and  this  only  on  condition  that  we  consider  the  Sunday 
school  as  having  sixty  minutes  of  educational  value  and 
on  the  further  condition  that  the  pupils  attend  every 
Sunday.  By  putting  on  the  plan  above  suggested  some 
churches  have  been  able  to  make  a  time  provision  for 
religious  education  as  indicated  below: 

A  three-hour-a-week  correlated  school  (Sun¬ 
day  school,  week-day  church  school,  and 
Christian  Endeavor  societies)  for  forty  weeks .  .  120  hours 


176 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Sunday  school  and  Christian  Endeavor  for 

twelve  weeks  in  summer .  24  hours 

Vacation  Bible  school,  five  weeks,  3  hours  a 
day,  five  days  a  week .  75  hours 


Total  for  one  year .  219  hours 


2.  The  correlated  church  school  secures  a  unified 
program  of  education  for  the  individual  church. 

Such  a  central  program  of  information,  worship,  and 
expression  as  we  have  been  considering  makes  it  possible 
for  the  individual  church  to  set  up  definite  and  common 
goals  for  all  its  educational  agencies.  It  removes  those 
overlappings  which  have  proved  so  wasteful  under  the 
system  of  uncorrelated  agencies.  It  brings  about  a 
division  of  labor  which  enables  every  agency  to  do  more 
efficient  work.  It  works  toward  the  development  of  a 
church-school  consciousness  which  eliminates  competi¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  various  educational  agencies  of 
the  church  and  develops  a  loyalty  to  the  school  as  a  whole 
and  a  loyalty  to  the  church  which  supports  the  school. 

3.  The  correlated  church  school  helps  the  church 
to  secure  a  better  teaching  force.  In  these  schools 
the  supervisor  and  the  week-day  teachers  are  usually 
trained  educators  who  receive  financial  compensation  for 
their  work.  Put  teachers  of  this  type  into  a  unified 
program  of  religious  education  with  teachers  in  the  Sun¬ 
day  school  who  have  received  little  or  no  training  and  some 
interesting  problems  will  begin  to  emerge.  If  church 
leaders  have  the  perseverance  and  faith  to  see  the  plan 
through,  the  result  will  be  highly  beneficial.  The  Sun¬ 
day-school  teaching  will  be  raised  to  new  levels  because 
the  Sunday  school  is  now  a  part  of  a  church  school  having 
other  sessions  in  which  work  of  high  merit  is  being  done. 

4.  The  correlated  church  school  enables  an 


THE  CENTRAL  PROGRAM 


177 


individual  church  to  provide  its  pupils  with  an 
educational  program  which  is  pedagogically  com¬ 
plete.  Under  the  old  plan  of  uncorrelated  agencies, 
ninety  per  cent  of  the  church-school  pupils  receive  little 
besides  a  meager  smattering  of  information  concerning 
religious  truths.  Under  the  correlated  plan  numerous 
churches  are  already  reaching  almost  ninety  per  cent  of 
their  pupils  with  a  three-hour-a-week  program  of  in¬ 
formation,  worship,  and  expression. 

5.  The  correlated  church  school  helps  the  indi¬ 
vidual  church  to  reach  children  and  youths  who 
are  spiritually  neglected.  Mention  has  already  been 
made  of  the  vast  army  of  children  and  young  people  in 
our  land  who  are  growing  up  in  spiritual  illiteracy.  Var¬ 
ious  remedies  have  been  proposed  for  this  perilous  situa¬ 
tion.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  set  up  religious  schools 
on  a  community  basis  independent  of  the  churches. 
There  are  those  who  seem  to  think  that  Bible-reading  in 
the  opening  sessions  of  the  public  schools  is  the  supreme 
need.  The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  what  is  most 
needed,  and  what  will  do  most  to  change  the  present 
situation,  is  for  each  and  every  church  to  put  on  a  program 
of  religious  education  which  is  extensive  enough  and 
efficient  enough  to  command  the  respect  of  children, 
young  people,  and  parents.  If  the  plan  we  are  consider¬ 
ing  can  accomplish  this  end,  or  even  make  progress  in 
that  direction,  it  is  worthy  to  receive  the  careful  attention 
of  all  right-thinking  people. 


CHAPTER  XII 


The  Program  of  Cooperation 
with  the  Home 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Program  of  Cooperation  With  the  Home 

HOME  influences  are  more  potent  for  good  or  evil 
than  any  other  influences  that  ever  touch  human 
life.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  environment  of  the 
home  touches  the  soul  of  the  child  in  its  earliest  and  most 
plastic  years.  Home  environment  consists,  likewise,  in 
contacts  which  are  more  intimate,  personal,  and  con¬ 
tinuous  than  any  other  contacts  of  life.  The  home  was 
the  first  educational  agency  and  no  other  organization 
can  ever  be  made  a  substitute  for  it.  The  Church  will 
never  be  able  to  accomplish  its  educational  task  without 
a  program  of  cooperation  with  the  homes  of  the  church- 
school  pupils.  The  organizing  and  putting  into  operation 
such  a  program  is  one  of  the  outstanding  needs  of  our 
times.  The  relationships  between  the  church  school  and 
the  homes  of  its  pupils  have  long  been  left  to  accident. 
Few  churches  have  had  any  definite  provisions  for  estab¬ 
lishing  the  relationship  on  a  right  basis.  Here  and  there 
churches  have  been  an  exception  to  the  rule.  They  have 
sought  to  enlist  the  home  in  the  educational  task,  have 
made  persistent  effort  to  set  up  goals  which  were  common 
to  the  home  and  the  church,  and  have  worked  for  a  program 
of  child  nurture  wherein  the  church  and  the  home  work 
in  cooperation.  In  some  cases  the  results  have  been 
remarkable.  It  has  been  shown  that  religion  in  the  home 
is  a  cure  for  sick  churches;  that  it  will  even  raise  them 
from  the  dead.  A  brief  statement  as  to  methods  used  in 
those  churches  which  have  found  ways  of  cooperating 
with  the  homes  of  their  church-school  pupils  is  the  object 
of  this  chapter. 


181 


182 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


1.  The  place  of  the  pastor  in  a  program  of  church- 
school  cooperation  with  the  homes  of  its  pupils. 

Many  pastors  believe  that  they  accomplish  their  greatest 
work  through  contacts  with  the  home  life  of  their  people. 
It  is  there  that  they  teach  the  Christian  religion  most 
effectively.  The  relationship  of  the  pastor  to  family 
life  is  peculiarly  close.  At  times  of  marriage,  the  birth 
of  children,  sickness,  death,  the  baptism  of  children,  and 
when  children  unite  with  the  church,  the  pastor  has  an 
opportunity  to  nurture  the  religious  life  of  the  home. 

Pastors  can  do  much  toward  the  creation  of  home 
religion  by  preaching  series  of  sermons  on  such  topics  as 
the  family  altar,  the  religious  nurture  of  children  in  the 
home,  and  Christian  ideals  of  marriage.  It  would  be  a 
wise  move  on  the  part  of  our  theological  seminaries  if 
they  would  put  in  more  thorough  courses  intended  to  fit 
prospective  ministers  for  more  efficient  contacts  with  the 
homes  of  the  congregations  they  are  to  serve.  If  the 
pastor  is  a  specialist  in  child  psychology,  he  can  find 
opportunities  for  service  in  practically  every  home  where 
there  are  children.  Parents  are  often  perplexed  by  the 
spiritual  problems  involved  in  rearing  their  children. 
They  have  no  ready  source  of  information  concerning 
such  matters.  If  a  child’s  eyes  are  afflicted  with  some 
malady,  there  are  specialists  who  can  give  the  needed 
assistance,  but  if  the  child’s  soul  is  becoming  afflicted 
with  some  malformation,  where  shall  the  parents  go  for 
advice  and  expert  assistance?  They  are  in  most  cases 
thrown  back  on  their  own,  sometimes  costly,  attempts 
to  find  a  remedy  by  experimentation,  or  they  accept  the 
advice  of  other  people  whose  knowledge  is  no  more  re¬ 
liable  than  their  own. 

So  great  is  the  pastor’s  opportunity  in  the  homes  of 
his  congregation  that  he  needs  a  corps  of  assistants,  in 
order  that  the  church  may  make  the  best  use  of  this 


PROGRAM  OF  COOPERATION  WITH  THE  HOME  183 


important  opportunity  for  establishing  the  Christian 
religion  in  all  the  earth.  The  pastor  makes  a  mistake 
if  he  neglects  his  opportunity  to  reach  his  people  through 
their  homes,  but  he  likewise  makes  a  mistake  if  he  tries  to 
occupy  this  important  field  all  by  himself.  He  does  his 
work  best  when  he  is  in  close  touch  with  some  of  the 
agencies  of  the  church  which  have  as  their  goal  the  en¬ 
couragement  of  religion  in  the  home.  The  superintend¬ 
ents  of  the  Home  Department  and  the  Cradle  Roll 
Department,  the  visitors  of  these  departments,  and  the 
teachers  of  parents’  classes  are  in  a  peculiar  sense  the 
pastor’s  assistants.  In  churches  where  these  agencies 
are  well  organized  and  ably  led,  the  pastor  and  his  people 
are  brought  into  closer  relationships  than  are  usually 
possible  without  the  aid  of  such  organizations,  and  the 
church  touches  the  spiritual  life  of  the  community  in  a 
more  vital  way  than  is  the  case  where  the  relationships 
between  church  and  home  are  left  to  accidental  contacts. 

2.  The  Home  Department.  In  an  efficient  church 
school  this  department  has  a  wider  field  of  usefulness  than 
the  originators  of  the  Home  Department  had  in  view.  The 
sphere  of  this  department  has  widened  with  its  growth. 
The  Home  Department  began  as  an  effort  to  enroll  in 
classes  for  Bible  study  those  who  found  it  impossible  to 
attend  Sunday  school.  This  is  still  an  important  phase 
of  the  Home  Department’s  work,  but  it  has  assumed 
other  kinds  of  service  which  are  also  of  much  importance. 
In  many  churches  the  Home  Department  has  become  the 
educational  agency  of  the  church  which  carries  on  a  varied 
program  of  cooperation  with  the  homes  of  the  church’s 
constituency.  Its  task  is  so  to  link  the  religious  and 
social  life  of  the  home  to  the  life  of  the  church  that  there 
will  be  one  program  for  the  conquest  of  the  community 
for  the  Christian  religion.  Its  task  is  to  restore  that 
close  relationship  between  church  and  home  which  helped 


184 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


to  make  the  Apostolic  Church  so  potent  in  the  days  when 
the  first  Christians  were  “day  by  day,  continuing  sted- 
fastly  with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread 
at  home,  they  took  their  food  with  gladness  and  single¬ 
ness  of  heart,  praising  God,  and  having  favor  with  all 
the  people.  And  the  Lord  added  to  them  day  by  day 
those  that  were  being  saved.  ”  Acts  2:46,  47,  and 
margin. 

3.  The  Cradle  Roll  Department.  The  work  of  the 
Cradle  Roll  Department  is  closely  related  to  that  of  the 
Home  Department,  and  the  two  types  of  work  are  often 
combined  in  one  organization  designed  to  reach  all  phases 
of  the  home  life.  The  Cradle  Roll  Department  has  as  its 
objective  the  spiritual  nurture  of  the  child  in  its  earliest 
years,  namely  from  birth  to  the  age  of  three.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  the  Church  has  come  to  recognize 
the  importance  of  these  first  years  in  a  child’s  life  and  has 
made  efforts  to  minister  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  these 
little  ones  through  a  program  of  religious  nurture  in  which 
Church  and  home  cooperate.  It  is  not  so  very  long  ago 
that  religion  was  considered  a  matter  quite  unrelated  to 
anything  in  the  lives  of  children  who  had  not  arrived  at 
“the  age  of  accountability.”  The  change  indicates  that 
the  influence  of  child  psychology  is  being  felt  in  the 
Church.  We  might  have  understood  without  the  aid 
of  the  psychologists,  however,  if  we  had  comprehended 
what  Jesus  meant  when  he  said  that  the  Kingdom  of 
heaven  belongs  to  babes  and  solemnly  warned  adults 
against  allowing  anything  to  exist  which  would  cause  one 
of  these  little  ones  to  stumble. 

If  the  Cradle  Roll  Department  is  to  accomplish  a  task 
at  all  commensurate  with  its  opportunity,  it  must  do 
something  more  than  secure  the  names  of  a  few  babies, 
display  them  on  a  roll  in  the  Beginners  room,  and  send 
the  babies  a  post  card  on  their  birthdays.  The  things 


PROGRAM  OF  COOPERATION  WITH  THE  HOME  185 


named  are  a  beginning,  but  fall  far  short  of  what  can  be 
done  and  ought  to  be  done  through  the  Cradle  Roll 
Department.  There  seems  to  be  a  prevalent  notion  that 
the  function  of  the  Cradle  Roll  is  “to  keep  in  touch  with 
the  babies  until  they  are  old  enough  to  come  to  Sunday 
school.”  This  goal  is  of  importance  and  a  Cradle  Roll 
is  worth  while  if  it  does  nothing  else  than  maintain  a 
point  of  contact  between  the  Church  and  the  child  which 
gives  some  promise  that  the  child  will  ultimately  be 
brought  under  the  teaching  of  the  Church.  The  possi¬ 
bilities  of  the  Cradle  Roll,  however,  so  far  transcend  this 
somewhat  remote  objective  that  other  goals  need  to  be 
kept  in  view  by  the  Cradle  Roll  workers. 

The  Cradle  Roll  is  the  agency  of  the  Church  for  reach¬ 
ing  the  child  through  its  home  life  from  the  very  begin¬ 
ning  of  its  existence.  What  goes  into  the  first  years  of 
life  goes  into  the  whole  of  life.  The  Cradle  Roll  superin¬ 
tendent  and  her  helpers  are  given  an  opportunity  second 
to  none.  The  opportunity  is  so  important  that  it  demands 
special  skill,  persevering  diligence,  and  wide  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  all  who  undertake  the  task  of  using  it  for 
the  good  of  the  Church  and  the  establishing  of  God’s 
Kingdom  in  the  world.  The  Cradle  Roll  visitor  needs  to 
know  how  to  give  council  on  matters  of  the  home  life  which 
are  peculiarly  personal,  and  she  will  need  to  be  tactful, 
as  well  as  well-informed.  Parents  need  help  that  they 
may  understand  how  to  care  for  their  babies.  The 
physician  can  give  advice  as  to  the  child’s  physical  needs, 
but  the  child  soon  comes  to  have  other  needs  besides 
those  of  a  physical  nature.  How  to  deal  with  children’s 
fears;  how  to  overcome  violent  fits  of  anger;  what  to  do 
with  the  child  who  sulks;  what  kinds  of  pictures  little 
children  enjoy;  what  songs  they  love;  these  and  many 
other  problems  the  skilled  Cradle  Roll  visitor  can  help 
parents  to  solve. 


186 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


4.  Parents’  classes.  People  are  pretty  well  agreed  that 
the  task  of  parents  is  the  most  important  in  the  world. 
Not  only  great  men  like  Abraham  Lincoln  but  also  the 
multitudes  say  that  prenatal  influences  have  been  the 
most  potent  of  all  factors  that  have  molded  their  lives. 
In  general,  great  tasks  are  thought  to  require  long  and 
thorough  preparation.  Men  are  not  allowed  to  become 
members  of  Congress  until  they  are  well  along  in  middle 
life,  because  the  makers  of  our  Constitution  considered 
that  years  of  preparation  and  experience  were  necessary 
for  the  lawmakers  of  the  new  nation.  The  home  maker 
needs  a  wisdom  in  some  respects  greater  than  that  needed 
by  the  lawmaker,  but  our  civilization  seems  to  be  built 
on  the  theory  that  the  high  duties  of  home  and  parent¬ 
hood  need  no  preparation. 

When  the  Church  fully  recognizes  that  home-making 
and  parenthood  involve  the  greatest  and  most  important 
tasks  in  human  life,  and  that  the  Church  is  the  agency 
responsible  beyond  all  others  for  preparing  people  for 
these  tasks,  the  Church  will  set  about  preparing  the 
agencies  suited  to  give  the  preparation  needed.  Present- 
day  parents’  classes  are  a  small  beginning  of  what  seems 
destined  to  become  a  large  and  definite  phase  of  the 
ministry  which  the  future  church  will  render  to  humanity. 
What  is  now  general  in  the  teaching  concerning  parent¬ 
hood  will  become  specific. 

The  membership  of  most  parents’  classes  is  at  present 
confined  to  people  who  are  already  parents,  in  fact, 
usually  to  those  who  are  mothers.  Such  a  program  of 
parent  training  is  not  nearly  so  extensive  as  it  should  be. 
Paternal  delinquency  in  parental  matters  is  more  prevalent 
than  is  maternal  delinquency.  We  need  classes  for 
parents  who  are  fathers.  It  likewise  is  too  late  to  give 
the  best  preparation  when  people  are  in  the  midst  of  the 
problems  of  parenthood.  Such  educational  effort  is 


PROGRAM  OF  COOPERATION  WITH  THE  HOME  187 


helpful  and  well  worth  while  even  though  late,  but  it 
falls  short  of  being  an  adequate  preparation  for  parent¬ 
hood.  If  the  training  of  a  child  should  begin  a  hundred 
years  before  the  child  is  born,  it  seems  certain  that  the 
training  of  the  child’s  parents  ought  to  begin  before  they 
are  face  to  face  with  problems  which  they  do  not  know 
how  to  solve,  but  which  must  be  solved  in  some  way  or 
other  immediately. 

Training  for  parenthood  should  be  definitely  begun 
with  young  people  who  are  in  their  teens.  This  is  the 
great  educational  period  and  the  matter  of  parenthood  is 
so  important  that  it  ought  to  be  taught  at  a  period  of  life 
when  the  learning  capacity  is  at  its  maximum.  Nature 
has  indicated  the  proper  time  for  the  presentation  of  the 
subject.  The  first  glow  of  adolescence  with  its  rapid 
development  of  the  ideal-forming  capacity  is  the  time  to 
give  young  people  dreams  of  the  home  life  which  is  to  be, 
dreams  which  they  are  to  make  come  true  in  the  years  of 
manhood  and  womanhood  which  lie  ahead. 

The  writer  is  fully  aware  that  such  forward-looking  is 
tabooed  in  certain  religious  educational  circles.  We  are 
told  that  the  child  is  living  a  real  life  in  the  years  of  child¬ 
hood  and  that  it  is  not  the  office  of  the  religious  educator 
to  help  him  to  prepare  for  the  life  which  he  is  to  live 
in  the  future,  so  much  as  to  help  him  to  live  “  adequately  ” 
in  the  present  time.  The  theory  rests  on  superficial 
conceptions  and  is  eminently  fitted  for  producing  a  genera¬ 
tion  of  shallow-minded  pleasure  seekers.  There  can  be 
no  truly  “adequate”  living  on  such  a  basis.  Adequate 
living  for  to-day  is  that  kind  of  living  which  is  a  prepara¬ 
tion  for  to-morrow.  Souls  which  really  live  are  conscious 
of  God’s  promises  for  the  coming  years;  they  see  them 
and  greet  them  from  afar.  Living  in  the  present  world 
can  be  adequate  for  creatures  made  in  God’s  image  only 
when  eternal  life  lies  in  view.  Of  these  forward-looking 


188 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


people  we  are  told  that  “God  is  not  ashamed  of  them,  to 
be  called  their  God;  for  he  hath  prepared  for  them  a 
city.” 

5.  Parent- teacher  associations.  During  recent  years 
successful  attempts  have  been  made  in  many  communities 
to  bring  public-school  teachers  and  the  parents  of  public- 
school  pupils  into  closer  relationships.  The  movement 
began  with-  certain  superintendents  of  public-school  sys¬ 
tems.  These  superintendents  saw  deeply  enough  into 
life,  and  understood  the  nature  of  education  fully  enough, 
to  realize  that  the  education  of  a  child  could  not  be  at  its 
best  without  a  completely  unified  program.  They 
realized  that  parents  are  potent  factors  in  the  education 
of  their  children  and  that  if  the  educative  process  were  to 
become  perfect  there  must  be  complete  cooperation  be¬ 
tween  the  parents  of  public-school  pupils  and  the  teachers 
of  public-school  pupils.  They  found  that  such  coopera¬ 
tion  was  almost  nonexistent;  that  most  parents  did  not 
know  the  teachers  of  their  children  when  they  met  them 
on  the  street.  These  public-school  superintendents  sought 
a  remedy  for  the  situation  which  was  hindering  their  work. 
They  organized  parent-teacher  associations.  In  these 
organizations  teachers  and  parents  get  acquainted  with 
one  another.  They  talk  over  their  problems  together. 
They  come  to  understand  each  other.  In  some  com¬ 
munities  problems  of  discipline  have  practically  dis¬ 
appeared  because  parents  and  teachers  have  cooperated 
in  bringing  about  higher  standards  of  conduct  among 
pupils.  The  effect  is  seen  in  higher  academic  standards 
likewise.  Parents  have  come  to  know  enough  about 
the  educational  aims  of  the  public  schools  to  enable  them 
to  cooperate  intelligently  with  the  teachers  in  the  educa¬ 
tive  process. 

Seeing  the  good  effects  of  parent-teacher  associations 
in  the  public  schools,  certain  churches  began  to  form 


PROGRAM  OF  COOPERATION  WITH  THE  HOME  189 


similar  organizations  for  the  teachers  of  their  Sunday- 
school  classes  and  the  parents  of  their  Sunday-school 
pupils.  The  experiment  has  demonstrated  that  such 
organizations  can  be  very  helpful  in  religious  education. 
Indeed,  they  are  more  sorely  needed  in  the  church  school 
than  they  are  in  the  public  school.  Public-school  teachers 
can  get  along  much  better  without  cooperation  with 
parents  than  can  church-school  teachers.  The  subjects 
they  teach  are  more  apart  from  the  home  life  of  the 
pupil  than  are  the  subjects  taught  by  the  church-school 
teachers.  Public-school  teachers  can  get  along  without 
the  help  of  the  parents  in  the  teaching  process,  for  they 
have  the  pupil  under  their  care  several  hours  a  day  and 
several  days  in  a  week,  whereas  the  church-school  teachers 
have  such  a  limited  amount  of  time  for  teaching  that 
their  work  is  sure  to  suffer  if  it  has  no  supplementing  in 
the  home. 

6.  A  unified  program  of  cooperation  with  the 
home  needed .  The  best  results  can  hardly  be  secured  if  the 
agencies  which  have  been  considered  in  this  chapter  work 
independently  of  one  another.  The  pastor’s  work  in  the 
homes  of  his  people  will  be  more  effective  if  he  uses  such 
agencies  as  thejHome  Department  and  the  Cradle  Roll  to 
learn  about  special  cases  of  need  and  unusual  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  service.  Parents’  classes  running  inde¬ 
pendently  of  the  other  agencies  will  find  that  the  re¬ 
cruiting  of  members  is  a  heavy  task;  but  when  they  are 
connected  with  such  organizations  as  the  Cradle  Roll  and 
the  Home  Department,  the  activities  of  these  agencies 
naturally  result  in  increased  membership  for  the  class. 
Parent-teacher  associations  prosper  most  when  they 
maintain  close  relationships  with  the  other  agencies  of 
the  church. 

This  department  of  the  church  program  of  religious 
education  is  probably  best  brought  into  unity  by  having 


190 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


a  Committee  on  Church  Relations  with  the  Home  formed 
under  the  church  Council  of  Religious  Education.  It 
has  also  been  found  helpful  to  have  some  one  person  who 
is  to  supervise  all  phases  of  this  program  of  church  and 
home  cooperation  in  religious  education.  In  churches 
employing  a  director  of  religious  education,  this  task 
very  naturally  falls  upon  that  official  as  a  part  of  his 
general  supervisory  duties.  If  the  church  has  no  director, 
it  is  sometimes  thought  best  to  give  the  whole  home  and 
church  program  into  the  hands  of  some  person  who  will 
have  responsibility  for  this  one  phase  of  the  educational 
program. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Program  of  Leadership  Training 


CHAPTER  XIII 

The  Program  of  Leadership  Training 

ALL  plans  for  improving  the  educational  program  of 
the  Church  lead  up  ultimately  to  the  problem  of 
leadership.  Without  efficient  leaders  to  put  them  into 
practice  the  best  laid  plans  come  to  naught.  The  train¬ 
ing  of  leaders  is  therefore  a  matter  of  much  importance 
to  the  individual  church.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the 
training  of  its  educational  leaders  is  wholly  a  task  of  the 
individual  church.  Such  an  opinion  would  seem  to  be 
the  result  of  an  inadequate  conception  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  leadership  training  task  of  the  Church.  It  is  too 
large  a  task  to  be  left  entirely  to  the  individual  church. 
It  is  a  task  calling  for  the  cooperation  of  the  individual 
church  with  other  churches  and  with  the  colleges,  semi¬ 
naries,  and  training  schools  of  the  denomination  to  which 
the  individual  church  belongs.  Although  the  individual 
church  cannot  successfully  undertake  the  whole  task  of 
training  the  educational  leadership  which  it  needs,  it  can 
accomplish  an  important  part  of  that  task.  It  can 
hardly  undertake  to  give  a  director  of  religious  education 
that  wide  and  thorough  preparation  which  he  needs  for 
his  important  task,  but  it  can  undertake  with  some  degree 
of  confidence  the  task  of  training  its  own  teaching  force, 
the  leaders  of  its  young  peoples’  organizations,  and  the 
departmental  superintendents  of  its  church  school. 

Leadership  Training  Which  the  Individual  Church 
Can  Carry  on  Independently 

A  church  school  cannot  be  carried  on  under  rules  that 
are  unalterable.  Nevertheless  it  can  almost  be  laid 

193 


194 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


down  as  a  rule  that  everyone  assuming  an  office  of  respon¬ 
sibility  in  the  church  school  should  receive  training  for 
the  efficient  accomplishment  of  the  task  to  be  assumed. 
Untrained  teachers  and  leaders  in  the  church  school  is 
the  usual  situation;  trained  leaders  and  trained  teachers 
are  the  exception.  We  can  say  this  much,  at  least;  that 
conditions  ought  to  be  reversed;  trained  workers  ought 
to  become  the  rule  and  untrained  workers  the  exception. 

1.  The  minimum:  a  one-year  training  course. 
Most  denominations  are  now  providing  their  churches 
with  one-year  courses  intended  for  teacher-training. 
These  courses  undertake  to  cover  the  more  essential 
subjects  such  as  Bible,  elementary  psychology,  religious 
pedagogy,  and  the  organization  and  administration  of 
church  schools.  Such  a  course  is  unquestionably  in¬ 
adequate,  but  it  is  better  than  no  training  at  all.  If  the 
knowledge  of  the  prospective  church-school  leader  is  to 
be  confined  within  the  covers  of  one  little  book  which 
deals  with  so  many  subjects  in  such  a  necessarily  brief 
way,  such  a  course  would  seem  to  fall  so  far  short  of  what 
is  required  that  its  usefulness  might  appear  questionable. 
But  this  is  seldom  the  case.  Most  people  who  enter  a 
training  class  will  have  accumulated  already  a  consider¬ 
able  store  of  information  and  acquired  some  skill  con¬ 
cerning  educational  matters.  One  of  the  chief  values  of 
a  training  course  is  the  fact  that  it  furnishes  a  central 
and  organizing  principle  about  which  knowledge  pre¬ 
viously  gained  is  brought  into  some  sort  of  a  system  and 
thereby  made  usable.  This  service  of  a  training  course 
may  be  quite  marked  even  though  the  course  be  confined 
to  a  small  volume  which  can  be  covered  in  a  compara¬ 
tively  short  period  of  instruction. 

2.  A  three-year  training  course.  Most  denomina¬ 
tions  are  likewise  providing  teacher-training  courses 
covering  three  years,  or  more.  These  are,  quite  naturally, 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  LEADERSHIP  TRAINING  195 


far  superior  to  the  one-year  courses,  since  they  give  an 
opportunity  to  present  the  necessary  subjects  at  some 
length.  Some  churches  have  found  it  an  excellent  plan 
to  select  certain  students  from  the  Senior  Department 
of  their  church  school  and  organize  them  into  a  leader¬ 
ship  training  class  to  meet  at  the  regular  Sunday-school 
hour.  They  let  it  be  understood  that  it  is  not  merely 
a  teacher-training  class,  but  intended  for  all  who  would 
fit  themselves  for  leadership  in  any  sphere  of  church 
activity  and  for  leadership  in  other  fields  of  endeavor. 
These  churches  have  found  that  such  a  class,  efficiently 
taught,  almost  eliminates  the  leadership  problem  from 
their  educational  program. 

Other  churches  have  put  on  three-year  courses,  not 
primarily  for  prospective  teachers,  but  for  those  already 
engaged  in  teaching.  The  leadership  training  work  in 
this  case,  is,  of  course,  carried  on  at  some  hour  other 
than  that  of  the  church-school  sessions.  It  may  be  said 
that  every  church  school  of  any  size  ought  to  maintain 
both  types  of  work.  There  ought  to  be  a  class  for  present 
teachers  and  there  ought  to  be  a  class  for  prospective 
teachers.  The  former  is  necessary  for  church-school 
efficiency  in  the  present;  the  latter  is  necessary  for  any 
firm  confidence  in  the  future. 


Leadership  Training  Which  the  Individual  Church 
Can  Carry  on  With  Other  Churches 

During  the  past  few  years  community  training  schools 
of  religious  education  have  been  established  in  consider¬ 
able  numbers  and  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  In 
these  schools  the  Protestant  denominations  of  a  community 
put  on  a  leadership  training  program  together.  Leader¬ 
ship  training  has  thus  become  one  of  the  most  promising 
fields  of  interdenominational  cooperation.  Where  these 


19G 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


schools  are  conducted  in  a  true  spirit  of  interdenomina¬ 
tional  comity  and  no  one  denomination  tries  to  dominate 
the  movement,  the  plan  has  distinct  advantages. 

1.  A  larger  enrollment  of  students.  The  interde¬ 
nominational  training  school  usually  enrolls  a  larger  num¬ 
ber  of  pupils  than  the  individual  church  training  school  is 
able  to  reach.  The  inspiration  which  comes  with  num¬ 
bers  is  thus  often  gained  through  the  operation  of  the 
training  school  on  an  interdenominational  basis.  A 
larger  enrollment  means  more  classes  and  a  more  diversified 
curriculum  and  more  opportunities  for  specialization.  All 
these  advantages  tend  to  put  the  interdenominational 
training  school  on  a  high  educational  basis. 

2.  A  larger  and  stronger  faculty.  The  larger  enroll¬ 
ment  of  the  interdenominational  school  usually  results  in 
more  adequate  financial  support  than  can  be  given  to 
the  individual  church  training  school.  With  larger 
financial  support  a  larger  and  stronger  faculty  are  made 
possible.  Men  and  women  who  are  making  religious 
education  their  life  work  are  thus  secured  as  professors 
in  the  school.  Specialists  in  various  phases  of  religious 
education  become  members  of  the  training-school  faculty 
and  thus  an  educational  system  of  large  merit  is  built  up. 
Diplomas  are  granted  for  the  completion  of  the  course 
and  the  church  school  begins  to  reach  a  stage  of  develop¬ 
ment  where  it  compares  favorably  with  the  normal 
schools  which  are  intended  to  prepare  public-school 
teachers  for  their  life  work. 

3.  Community  religious  educational  activities. 

The  community  training  school  is  usually  carried  on  under 
a  community  board,  or  council,  of  religious  education. 
This  community  council  often  carries  on  other  religious 
educational  activities  besides  the  training  school.  Com¬ 
munity  pageants  are  prepared,  community  singing  insti¬ 
tuted,  and  community  picnics  planned.  A  wide  brotherli- 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  LEADERSHIP  TRAINING  107 

I 

ness  of  spirit  is  thus  encouraged  among  the  children  and 
young  people  of  the  whole  community,  an  educational 
result  of  no  mean  value. 

4.  Other  interchurch  educational  activities.  In 

almost  every  community  there  are  Sunday-school  con¬ 
tentions  and  religious-education  institutes  where  oppor¬ 
tunities  for  leadership  training  are  offered.  Individual 
churches  often  take  advantage  of  these  opportunities  by 
sending  delegates  who  bring  back  suggestions  for  new  and 
better  plans  which  are  applicable  to  their  own  church- 
school  problems. 

Many  churches  have  found  young  peoples’  summer 
conferences  helpful  in  securing  a  trained  leadership  for 
their  educational  enterprises.  Whether  these  conferences 
are  on  the  interdenominational  plan  or  are  entirely  de¬ 
nominational,  they  usually  offer  courses  in  Sunday- 
school  organization  and  management,  courses  for  pros¬ 
pective  teachers,  and  courses  for  departmental  super¬ 
intendents.  By  taking  advantage  of  these  interchurch 
agencies  and  these  denominational  agencies  for  leader¬ 
ship  training,  the  individual  church  is  able  to  supplement 
effectively  its  own  program. 

Leadership  Training  Which  the  Individual  Church 
can  Carry  on  With  the  Colleges,  Train¬ 
ing  Schools,  and  Theological 
Seminaries  of  Its  Own 
Denomination 

None  of  the  agencies  heretofore  mentioned  can  do  all 
that  needs  to  be  done  toward  training  educational  leaders 
for  the  Church.  Leaders  of  religious  education,  at  least 
those  who  make  this  a  life  work,  need  a  preparation  as 
extensive  and  as  thorough  as  that  which  is  being  given  in 
our  best  schools  of  medicine,  of  civil  engineering,  or  of 


198 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


law.  No  individual  church  can  give  such  training, 
neither  can  the  churches  of  a  community  working  to¬ 
gether.  It  is  a  task  for  denominational  colleges,  training 
schools,  and  theological  seminaries.  This  task  of  pre¬ 
paring  the  leaders  who  are  to  make  religious  education  a 
life  work  is,  nevertheless,  one  in  which  the  individual 
church  has  an  important  part. 

1.  Encouraging  individuals  to  choose  religious 
education  as  a  life  work.  The  choice  of  an  occupation  is 
one  of  the  most  momentous  choices  of  life.  It  is  so 
important  that  vocational  guidance  ought  to  be  furnished 
by  every  church.  It  is  so  important  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  left  to  the  caprice  of  the  individual  or  to  the  acci¬ 
dental  tendencies  of  environment.  It  is  so  important 
that  it  can  be  made  with  confidence  only  when  the  deep 
religious  emotions  of  the  soul  are  involved  in  the  choice, 
when  the  ears  of  youth  hear  the  silent  voice  which  whispers, 
“  This  is  the  way,  walk  ye  in  it.  ”  To  teach  young  people 
how  to  hear  and  know  and  obey  the  voice  of  God  in  the 
time  of  great  life  decisions  is  one  of  the  educational  tasks 
of  the  individual  church.  Religious  education  ought  to 
be  held  up  before  young  people  as  one  of  the  most  promis¬ 
ing  fields  of  life  service.  Every  church  ought  to  be  a 
recruiting  agency  for  the  teaching  ministry  of  the  church. 

2.  Encouraging  the  higher  educational  agencies  of 
the  church  to  take  up  the  task  of  training  leaders 
for  educational  work.  In  neglecting  to  provide 
courses  for  the  training  of  leaders  in  religious  education, 
denominational  colleges  have  missed  one  of  their  greatest 
opportunities  for  service  and  one  which  belongs  peculiarly 
to  them.  In  failing  to  provide  studies  which  will  fit 
people  for  educational  leadership,  theological  seminaries 
have  failed  to  give  ministers  a  part  of  training  necessary 
for  the  highest  success  in  their  calling.  But  the  blame 
for  these  failures  does  not  rest  entirely  with  the  institu- 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  LEADERSHIP  TRAINING  199 


tions  named.  It  rests  in  part  with  the  individual  church. 
Church  colleges  and  theological  seminaries  are  responsive 
to  the  sentiments  of  the  individual  churches  of  the  de¬ 
nomination  with  which  these  educational  institutions  are 
connected.  If  the  churches  really  demanded  ministers 
who  are  able  to  give  a  church  educational  leadership, 
as  well  as  to  preach  good  sermons,  theological  seminaries 
would  soon  be  paying  more  attention  to  this  type  of  work. 
If  all  individual  churches  which  are  financially  able  were 
employing  directors  of  religious  education  to  lead  and 
supervise  their  church-school  activities,  church  colleges 
would  soon  be  organizing  departments  of  religious  educa¬ 
tion  and  training  schools  for  Christian  workers  would 
multiply  and  flourish. 

3.  Encouraging  training  schools  to  enlarge  their 
work  and  to  put  their  teaching  on  the  highest 
educational  basis.  Nearly  all  the  stronger  denomina¬ 
tions  of  the  country  have  within  the  past  few  years 
established  training  schools  for  Christian  workers.  The 
chief  aim  of  these  schools  is  the  preparation  of  leaders  for 
the  educational  agencies  of  the  Church,  though  they  seek 
also  to  train  young  people  for  other  branches  of  Church 
work.  Many  of  these  schools  have  not  yet  reached  a 
high  standard  because  of  meager  financial  support  on  the 
part  of  the  denomination  which  created  them.  They 
cannot  pay  salaries  which  enable  them  to  secure  the  best 
teaching  talent  available.  They  are  often  housed  in 
buildings  unsuitable  for  educational  purposes.  Their 
life  for  the  most  part  is  a  struggle  for  existence.  No 
institution  can  do  its  best  work  under  such  conditions.  It 
is  time  for  Protestant  churches  not  only  to  organize  such 
schools  but  also  to  give  them  that  support  which  will 
enable  them  to  become  educational  institutions  of  the 
highest  possible  efficiency.  We  have  noted  other  in¬ 
stances  where  the  educational  work  of  the  Church  suffered 


/ 


200  A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 

because  a  just  appreciation  of  its  importance  was  lacking, 
but  these  struggling  training  schools  of  Protestantism 
are  perhaps  more  pathetic  evidences  of  this  condition  than 
anything  heretofore  noted.  The  program  of  every  in¬ 
dividual  church  should  include  a  plan  for  cooperation  with 
all  these  institutions  of  higher  learning  whereby  the 
educational  system  of  the  denomination  to  which  both  the 
church  and  the  schools  belong  may  be  lifted  to  a  higher 
plan. 

4.  Practice  teaching  indispensable.  Secular  educa¬ 
tion  took  a  long  forward  step  when  David  P.  Page  and 
Horace  Mann  organized  the  first  normal  school  having 
classes  for  practice  teaching.  Up  to  that  time  prepara¬ 
tion  for  teaching  had  been  confined  almost  wholly  to  an 
attempt  to  master  the  subject  matter  to  be  taught.  It 
was  taken  for  granted  that  if  a  person  knew  a  subject,  he 
could  teach  it.  The  public-school  leaders  of  that  time 
were  just  beginning  to  note  the  fact  that  this  rule  did  not 
work.  They  found  certain  people  of  excellent  academic 
standing  who  made  a  failure  of  their  attempts  to  teach. 
They  Came  to  the  conclusion  that  there  were  certain 
phases  of  the  teaching  process  which  could  not  be  taught 
from  books;  that  they  must  be  learned  through  experience. 
Wise  Church  leaders  will  not  build  their  leadership  train¬ 
ing  program  on  conceptions  which  were  passing  away  in 
public-school  circles  a  hundred  years  ago.  They  will 
make  provisions  whereby  prospective  teachers  can  gain 
experience  in  teaching  and  managing  a  church-school 
class  before  being  given  full  responsibility  for  that  difficult 
position.  The  unselfish  desire  to  serve,  which  was  born 
of  a  love  for  God  and  a  love  for  children,  has  often  been 
crushed  out  in  heartache  and  remorse  as  some  untrained 
church-school  teacher  wrestled  Sunday  after  Sunday  with 
an  unruly  class  of  youngsters  who  were  not  really  bad  at 
heart  but  only  trying  out  their  teacher,  as  all  children 


THE  PROGRAM  OF  LEADERSHIP  TRAINING  201 


will,  to  see  whether  she  was  fully  competent  for  the  task 
she  had  undertaken.  Few  Sunday-school  pupils  will 
stick  to  a  class  where  the  order  is  poor.  The  result, 
therefore,  has  been  wasted  time,  the  loss  of  pupils  from  the 
school,  and  a  teacher  discouraged  and  ready  to  quit, 
simply  because  the  church  has  not  exercised  common 
sense  and  forethought  in  the  preparation  of  leaders  for 
its  educational  work. 

5.  Departmental  helpers.  The  providing  of  practice 
work  for  prospective  church-school  teachers  is  com¬ 
paratively  easy.  The  church  school  lends  itself  to  plans 
looking  toward  this  end.  Every  departmental  superin¬ 
tendent  needs  numerous  assistants.  These  helpers  may 
well  be  chosen  from  among  the  young  people  of  the  church 
who  show  an  aptitude  for  educational  work.  If  these 
helpers  are  gathered  into  a  teacher-training  class  where 
the  subject  matter  of  religious  education  is  taught  and 
the  basis  of  educational  theory  is  mastered,  their  work 
as  helpers  in  the  church  school  will  come  in  as  a  fitting 
supplement  to  their  course  of  preparation  for  educational 
leadership. 

6.  A  corps  of  substitute  teachers.  It  is  an  excellent 
plan  to  have  a  corps  of  substitute  teachers  who  take 
charge  of  classes  from  which  the  regular  teachers  are 
temporarily  absent.  Opportunity  is  thus  given  the 
prospective  teacher  to  gain  experience  which  is  invaluable. 
By  beginning  in  classes  where  matters  of  discipline  are 
simple  or  largely  absent,  the  substitute  teacher  may  be 
given  tasks  that  are  progressively  harder  and  harder.  A 
good  many  distressing  failures  in  church-school  teaching 
have  resulted  from  the  custom  of  superintendents  of 
putting  any  teacher  they  could  lay  hands  on  into  any 
sort  of  class  that  happened  to  be  without  an  instructor. 
Now  it  happens  that  the  toughest  classes  of  the  Sunday 
school  are  most  apt  to  be  teacherless,  and  thus  it  results 


202 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


that  the  inexperienced  person  who  is  rash  enough  to 
undertake  the  management  of  a  Sunday-school  class 
without  having  had  previous  experience  often  gets  into 
trouble  and  forthwith  and  forever  afterward  avoids  a  task 
in  which  he  might  have  found  great  reward  and  in  which 
he  might  have  accomplished  great  good,  had  the  Church 
had  any  sensible  plan  for  meeting  one  of  its  most  constant 
and  most  important  educational  needs. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Relation  of  the  Individual  Church 
School  to  Other  Educational 

Agencies 


CHAPTER  XIV 


The  Relation  of  the  Individual  Church  School  to 
Other  Educational  Agencies 


HE  educational  program  of  the  Church  has  often 


-L  failed  to  be  effective  because  the  efforts  of  the 
Church,  meager  at  best,  were  lost  in  the  vast  complex  of 
educational  influences  thrown  about  the  American  child. 
The  influence  of  the  street,  the  moving-picture  show,  and 
the  daily  paper,  have  had  a  larger  place  in  the  life  of  the 
child  than  the  Sunday  school  and  the  church  service, 
consequently  the  teaching  of  the  Church  has  fallen  short 
of  a  controlling  influence  over  life  and  conduct.  If  religious 
education  is  to  be  made  effective,  it  must  not  only  be  given 
a  larger  place  in  the  life  of  the  child,  but  there  must  also 
be  less  antagonism  on  the  part  of  other  influences  which 
touch  child  life.  Influences  which  are  anti-religious  must 
be  so  far  as  possible  eliminated.  The  church  school  has 
thus  a  double  task  with  regard  to  the  other  educational 
agencies  which  touch  childhood  and  youth.  It  must 
wisely  cooperate  with  and  encourage  all  that  is  good  in 
the  influence  of  the  home,  the  public  school,  and  the 
community,  but  it  must  wage  relentless  warfare  against 
all  that  blights  child  life  and  brings  the  educational  efforts 
of  the  church  to  naught. 

1.  The  church  and  the  home.  The  program  of  co¬ 
operation  which  the  church  ought  to  carry  on  with  the 
homes  of  its  constituency  has  been  discussed  in  a  pre¬ 
ceding  chapter.  It  remains  to  be  said,  however,  that  the 
Church  must  labor  for  the  elimination  of  evil  influences 
from  home  life  if  the  educational  efforts  of  the  Church 
are  not  to  meet  with  defeat  in  numerous  instances.  In 


205 


206 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


battling  against  divorce  and  the  social  evil  and  the  drink 
evil  the  Church  is  safeguarding  its  educational  program 
from  failure  due  to  the  bad  environment  about  its  pupils. 
It  is  a  disastrous  mistake  for  the  Church  to  fall  into  that 
habit  of  mind  which  thinks  of  religion  as  having  little  to 
do  with  the  righting  of  the  present  world  order. 

2.  The  church  and  the  public  schools.  We  have 
not  yet  evolved  an  American  system  of  education.  The 
problems  which  resulted  from  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State  in  America  have  not  yet  been  solved.  We 
have  gone  far  enough  toward  the  solution  of  the  problem 
to  see  that  four  educational  influences  must  cooperate  in 
the  education  of  the  American  child,  if  we  are  to  secure 
results  that  are  reliable  and  desirable.  These  four 
agencies  are  the  home,  the  Church,  the  public  school, 
and  the  community.  These  four  agencies  have  potent 
influence  over  the  developing  lives  of  children  and  young 
people.  They  must  be  brought  into  harmony  and  into 
cooperation.  If  our  public  schools  cannot  teach  religion 
under  the  Constitution,  let  the  teaching  of  religion  be  a 
task  of  the  home  and  the  Church.  Let  the  public  schools 
cooperate  with  the  home  and  the  Church  by  yielding  a 
portion  of  the  school  day  that  pupils  may  receive  religious 
instruction  under  favorable  conditions.  A  refusal  of  the 
public  schools  to  cooperate  in  such  an  important  matter 
as  the  training  of  their  pupils  in  the  practice  of  religion 
would  indicate  that  our  public-school  authorities  are 
spiritually  shortsighted  and  quite  lacking  in  ideals.  It 
seems  certain  that  the  public-school  teachers  and  superin¬ 
tendents  make  up  the  greatest  body  of  idealists  in  America 
and  that  we  can,  therefore,  depend  on  them  for  hearty 
cooperation  with  the  Church  and  the  home  in  the  spiritual 
nurture  of  childhood.  Experience  is  proving  that  this 
confidence  in  the  public-school  teaching  force  of  America 
is  not  misplaced.  The  movement  for  a  larger  program 


RELATION  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH  207 


of  religious  education  began  with  them  and  they  have 
been  its  most  faithful  promoters.  In  New  York  City, 
four  thousand  public-school  teachers  have  banded  them¬ 
selves  together  to  secure  more  adequate  and  more  efficient 
religious  education  for  the  Protestant  children  of  the  city. 
They  give  of  their  time  and  their  service  because  they 
are  idealists  who  know  that  there  is  no  true  education 
which  neglects  the  nurture  of  the  religious  capacities  of 
pupils.  It  seems  a  little  strange  that  the  teachers  have 
been  distinctly  in  advance  of  the  ministers  in  the  move¬ 
ment  for  a  larger  effort  to  teach  all  nations  the  things 
which  Jesus  has  commanded  us. 

Although  the  teaching  force  of  the  public  schools  and 
universities  as  a  rule  is  to  be  depended  upon  for  coopera¬ 
tion  with  the  Church  and  the  home  in  the  educational 
task,  it  must  be  admitted  that  this  is  not  universally 
true.  There  are  public-school  principals  and  superin¬ 
tendents  who  are  opposed  to  any  cooperation  with  the 
agencies  which  have  the  religious  nurture  of  the  child  in 
view.  Not  all  public-school  teachers  are  idealists,  even 
if  the  teachers  as  a  body  make  up  the  greatest  group  of 
idealists  in  the  land.  In  the  case  of  city  superintendents 
and  state  superintendents  the  danger  of  an  educational 
leadership  devoid  of  spiritual  vision  is  still  more  evident. 
Our  public  schools  have  not  been  entirely  freed  from 
political  control  in  some  cities  and  in  some  states  and  the 
superintendents  who  owe  their  positions  more  to  shrewd 
political  maneuvering  than  to  high  ideals  are  usually 
the  ones  who  see  no  need  for  religious  instruction. 

In  a  few  of  our  public  institutions  of  higher  learning 
which  are  supported  largely  or  entirely  by  taxation,  there 
have  been  a  few  professors  who  have  not  hesitated  to 
commend  in  their  classes  conclusions  which  are  atheistic. 
Some  of  them  have  gone  out  of  their  way  to  scoff  at  the 
fundamental  beliefs  of  the  Christian  Church.  It  seems 


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A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


strange  that  the  American  public  should  be  so  tolerant  in 
such  matters  and  should  consider  such  teaching  to  be 
within  the  rights  of  “ academic  freedom.”  If  the  teach¬ 
ing  of  religion  in  our  tax-supported  institutions  of  learning 
is  illegal,  surely  the  teaching  of  irreligion  ought  not  to 
be  considered  permissible. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the  writer’s  belief 
that  the  Church  has  a  right  to  insist  that  the  public- 
school  curriculum  be  not  a  refutation  of  the  fundamental 

beliefs  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  matter  is  somewhat 

»  _ 

difficult,  it  is  true.  The  Church  must  not  repeat  the 
blunder  which  it  made  in  the  days  of  Galileo.  It  must 
not  undertake  to  dictate  in  the  settlement  of  questions  of 
purely  scientific  nature.  Nevertheless,  the  rule  works 
both  ways.  Churchmen  make  grievous  blunders  when 
they  undertake  to  be  dogmatic  in  matters  of  science  or 
history.  Scientists  and  historians  make  blunders  equally 
grievous  when  they  become  dogmatic  in  matters  which 
are  primarily  spiritual  and  religious. 

3.  The  church  and  the  educational  agencies  of 
its  denomination.  Most  denominations  have  organized 
a  board,  or  agency  of  some  other  name,  which  is  charged 
with  the  responsibility  for  educational  leadership  within 
the  denomination.  Such  a  board  selects  and  arranges 
curriculum  material  to  be  recommended  to  the  churches. 
It  serves  as  a  clearing  house  for  information  concerning 
educational  matters.  Its  representatives  come  in  contact 
with  the  educational  work  of  various  churches  in  different 
sections  of  the  country  and  they  make  this  information 
available  for  all  the  churches  of  the  denomination.  They 
visit  individual  churches,  giving  expert  assistance  in  the 
organization  of  educational  agencies.  They  help  to  carry 
on  institutes  and  conferences  wherein  the  workers  of  the 
individual  church  receive  training  and  inspiration  for 
their  tasks. 


RELATION  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH  209 


It  is  a  wise  policy  for  the  educational  leaders  of  an  in¬ 
dividual  church  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  the  educational 
board  of  the  denomination  to  which  the  individual  church 
belongs.  They  are  thus  brought  into  contact  with  the 
whole  field  of  educational  progress  within  the  denomina¬ 
tion.  Better  methods  are  thus  made  available  for  the 
individual  church  as  soon  as  they  have  been  tried  out  and 
found  to  be  helpful.  The  church-school  leaders  take  new 
courage  as  they  come  to  feel  themselves  a  part  of  one  great 
organization  which  is  working  for  the  same  ends  as  the 
individual  church  school. 

It  is  a  good  thing  for  each  church  school  to  have  a  part 
in  supporting  the  educational  board  of  its  own  denomina¬ 
tion.  Offerings  given  by  pupils  for  the  support  of  re¬ 
ligious  educational  work  at  home  and  abroad  have  dis¬ 
tinct  educational  value.  If  a  church  school  helps  to 
support  a  Sunday-school  missionary  on  the  frontier  the 
pupils  of  that  church  school  gain  a  larger  conception  of 
the  importance  of  religious  education  than  they  would 
be  apt  to  gain  otherwise. 

4.  The  church  and  interdenominational  educa¬ 
tional  agencies.  Much  of  the  promotion  of  religious 
education  in  America  has  been  done  by  interdenomina¬ 
tional  religious  educational  agencies  like  the  various 
Sunday-school  associations.  Since  every  church  school 
owes  much  to  these  interdenominational  organizations  it 
is  only  right  that  they  should  receive  generous  support 
from  church  schools.  The  participation  of  a  church 
school  in  these  wide  fields  of  service  where  people  of  many 
denominations  are  working  in  cooperation  for  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  common  goals  is  an  important  educational  in¬ 
fluence.  It  tends  to  give  a  sense  of  the  largeness  of  the 
task  before  the  Christian  church  and  of  the  advantages 
of  all  Christian  believers  working  cooperatively  in  the 
tasks  which  they  can  do  best  by  working  together. 


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A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Interdenominational  community  organizations  for  the 
encouragement  of’  religious  education  have  been  mul¬ 
tiplying  of  late.  To  hold  aloof  from  such  cooperative 
efforts  of  Protestantism  would  seem  to  be  a  mistaken 
policy  for  the  church  school  of  any  evangelical  denomina¬ 
tion.  This  does  not  mean  that  church  schools  should 
always,  or  generally,  turn  over  such  tasks  as  the  giving 
of  week-day  religious  instruction  to  some  interdenomina¬ 
tional  community  agency.  The  task  may  sometimes  be 
done  more  efficiently  by  allowing  each  church  to  take  up 
this  work  and  make  it  a  part  of  its  own  unified  program 
than  by  putting  on  an  interdenominational  course  of  in¬ 
struction  which  is  not  adjusted  in  any  way  to  what  the 
church  schools  are  already  doing. 

5.  The  church  and  extradenominational  educa¬ 
tional  agencies.  There  have  sprung  up  in  our  land 
many  agencies  which  do  religious  educational  work,  but 
which  cannot  be  called  interdenominational,  since  the 
denominations  have  no  direct  connection  with  them  or 
control  over  them.  It  must  be  confessed  that  these 
organizations  have  come  into  existence  in  response  to 
educational  needs  which  the  Church  was  neglecting. 
They  have  often  been  distinctly  helpful  to  the  Church 
by  blazing  the  way  to  new  and  better  methods.  Never¬ 
theless,  their  presence  results  in  some  rather  puzzling 
problems.  Sometimes  they  maintain  educational  activ¬ 
ities  which  are  in  competition  with  the  church-school 
activities,  thus  alienating  pupils  from  the  churches  and 
ultimately  defeating  one  of  the  most  important  goals  of 
religious  education,  namely,  the  bringing  of  every  pupil 
into  a  permanent  relationship  to  some  church.  They 
are  thus  apt  to  result  in  additions  to  that  already  large 
body  of  people  who  are  of  high  character  and  who  really 
ought  to  be  active  Church  members,  but  who  have  lost 
all  vital  connection  with  the  agency  which  more  than  any 


RELATION  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH  211 


other,  except  the  home,  is  responsible  for  their  uprightness 
of  life. 

When  the  extradenominational  agency  projects  its 
organization  within  the  individual  church,  other  condi¬ 
tions  quite  as  unfortunate  as  those  which  have  been 
mentioned  are  apt  to  arise.  The  program  which  is  in¬ 
troduced  is  not  properly  correlated  with  the  educational 
activities  of  the  church.  Sometimes  a  divided  loyalty 
results  which  is  a  distinct  hindrance  to  the  work  of  the 
individual  church.  When  this  condition  is  reached,  the 
participation  of  the  outside  organization  in  the  task  be¬ 
comes  of  decidedly  questionable  value.  Many  leaders  of 
extradenominational  agencies  are  seeing  this,  and  it  is  a 
hopeful  sign  that  they  are  making  their  own  programs 
flexible  enough  to  enable  them  to  be  adjusted  to  the 
program  of  the  church,  and  are  insisting  that  their  sphere 
of  usefulness  lies  in  the  rendering  of  assistance  to  churches 
rather  than  in  putting  on  programs  which  compete  with 
the  church  programs. 

6.  The  church  and  the  community.  Modern 
civilization  has  brought  about  the  communization  of  life 
to  a  remarkable  degree.  Community  agencies  have  taken 
over  tasks  once  performed  within  the  family.  The 
public-school  system  is  nothing  less  than  a  plan  whereby 
families  cooperate  in  a  communal  system  whereby  their 
children  are  taught  together  in  buildings  specially  con¬ 
structed  for  school  purposes  and  in  classes  taught  by 
persons  who  have  made  special  preparation  for  the  teach¬ 
ing  task,  instead  of  being  taught  by  the  parents  at  home. 
Public  libraries  have  made  private  libraries  largely  un¬ 
necessary,  thus  supplanting  a  privately  owned  element 
of  environment  with  one  that  is  publicly  owned.  Trade 
schools  have  replaced  the  old  order  in  which  the  son  was 
the  apprentice  of  the  father.  The  fireside  is  replaced  by 
a  furnace  in  the  basement  of  an  apartment  building  in 


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A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


which  dozens  of  families  live.  Family  recreations  have 
given  place  to  the  varied  commercialized  amusements  of 
the  city,  the  town,  and  the  country  village. 

This  communizirtg  of  life  has  affected  education  pro¬ 
foundly.  Those  who  have  made  most  careful  investiga¬ 
tions  concerning  the  matter  state  that  the  educational 
influences  about  the  American  child  stand  in  the  follow¬ 
ing  order  in  so  far  as  their  power  over  the  development 
of  character  is  concerned:  first,  the  home;  second,  the 
public  school;  third,  the  moving  picture;  fourth,  the 
Church.  Think  what  this  statement  means.  It  means 
that  within  the  last  decade  the  moving-picture  show  has 
crowded  in  ahead  of  the  Church  as  an  educational  in¬ 
fluence  in  the  life  of  the  American  child.  It  means  that 
certain  people,  some  of  whom  are  of  unsavory  reputation, 
are  more  powerful  teachers  of  American  children  and 
American  youth  than  all  the  preachers  and  Sunday- 
school  teachers,  than  all  the  priests  and  teaching  sister¬ 
hoods  of  Roman  Catholicism,  than  all  the  rabbis  of 
Judaism. 

It  would  seem  to  be  clear,  then,  that  if  the  teaching 
program  of  the  Church  is  to  maintain  even  its  present 
status,  the  potent  influences  of  community  agencies  must 
be  brought  to  a  state  where  they  will  not  neutralize  the 
educational  influence  of  the  Church.  The  Church  must 
continue  that  fight  against  evil  which  it  has  waged  strenu¬ 
ously  in  every  century  of  its  history  which  was  marked 
by  real  progress  and  spiritual  victories.  The  Church 
must  be  thrilled  with  the  righteous  wrath  which  stirred 
the  soul  of  its  Leader  when  he  said,  “  Whosoever  shall 
cause  one  of  these  little  ones  that  believe  on  me  to  stumble, 
it  were  better  for  him  if  a  great  millstone  were  hanged 
about  his  neck,  and  he  were  cast  into  the  sea.  ” 

But  the  Church  must  do  something  besides  fight;  it 
must  work.  Some  churches  are  making  the  mistake  of 


RELATION  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  CHURCH  213 


assuming  that  a  vigorous  fight  against  evil  educational 
influences  will  take  the  place  of  a  positive  and  efficient 
program  of  religious  education  carried  on  by  the  Church. 
It  is  easier  to  fight,  especially  if  the  battle  takes  the  form 
of  a  wordy  warfare,  than  it  is  to  buckle  down  to  a  hard 
task  which  requires  enduring  patience  and  discourage¬ 
ment-defying  optimism  and  self-sacrifice  and  a  determina¬ 
tion  which  never  gives  up.  A  pastor  can  never  discharge 
his  duty  in  the  matter  by  quixotic  attacks  upon  the 
moving-picture  people  if  he  at  the  same  time  allows  his 
church  to  go  along  with  an  educational  program  which 
is  archaic  in  its  methods  and  absurdly  inefficient,  as 
measured  by  the  results  attained. 

Many  churches  are  finding  that  by  providing  children 
and  young  people  with  wholesome  amusements  and 
opportunities  for  social  activities  they  can  overcome 
many  of  the  more  objectionable  features  of  community 
life.  The  time  was  when  the  church  was  next  to  the 
home  the  most  dominant  influence  of  the  community.  In 
the  church  the  social  life  of  the  neighborhood  had  its 
center.  Efforts  are  being  made  to  restore  the  church  to 
this  place  of  influence  which  it  once  occupied.  These 
efforts  have  been  so  far  successful  in  a  number  of  com¬ 
munities  that  the  plan  is  demonstrated  to  be  practicable. 
So  we  may  say  that  the  church  which  is  in  the  vanguard 
of  educational  progress  has  a  program  of  activities  which 
more  and  more  tends  to  restore  the  church  to  its  former 
place  as  a  community  force  second  only  to  the  home. 


i 


CHAPTER  XV 


Checking  Up  the  Results 


CHAPTER  XV 

Checking  Up  the  Results 

ALACK  of  definite  goals  as  to  enrollment,  attendance, 
and  educational  accomplishment  has  been  a  grave 
defect  of  church-school  administration.  Even  when  some 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  major  objectives  for  which 
the  church  school  should  strive,  the  church  school  has 
frequently  failed  to  develop  any  suitable  method  of 
checking  up  results,  so  as  to  show  what  progress  was 
being  made.  Secular  educators  have  of  late  been  de¬ 
veloping  a  science  of  education.  They  make  much  of 
tests  and  systems  of  measurements.  The  church  school 
needs  a  system  of  measurements  quite  as  much  as  the 
public  school  needs  a  system  of  measurements,  but  up  to 
the  present  the  church  school  has  not  tried  to  find  out 
anything  definite  and  reliable  concerning  the  results  of 
the  teaching  in  its  classes.  It  is  admitted  that  spiritual 
values  do  not  submit  readily  to  tests  and  measurements, 
but  the  church  school  has  not  even  tried  to  determine 
whether  its  pupils  were  being  given  an  intellectual  under¬ 
standing  of  spiritual  truth. 

Sunday-school  teaching  has  failed  to  an  alarming  degree 
in  its  efforts  to  give  children  and  young  people  a  knowledge 
of  the  Bible.  To  a  considerable  degree  this  failure  is  due 
to  the  absence  of  any  system  of  examinations  whereby 
the  teacher  can  determine  the  intellectual  grasp  of  the 
pupil  on  the  facts  of  Bible  history  and  Bible  doctrine. 
In  the  public  schools  promotions  are  determined  by  the 
intellectual  accomplishments  of  the  pupils.  This  is 
hardly  ever  the  case  in  the  church  school.  Promotions 
in  the  church  school  are  based  on  the  age  of  pupils,  or 

217 


218 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


sometimes  to  a  certain  extent  on  the  pupil’s  desire  to  he 
in  some  class  where  his  chums  are  enrolled. 

Since  the  primary  objectives  of  the  church  school  are 
not  intellectual  but  spiritual  it  comes  to  pass  that  the 
church  school  needs  machinery  not  only  for  testing  the 
intellectual  progress  of  its  pupils  but  also  for  testing  their 
spiritual  progress.  This  second  task  is  more  difficult 
than  the  first,  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  essential.  If  the 
church  school  runs  along  without  trying  to  find  out  what 
it  is  accomplishing  by  way  of  giving  its  pupils  an  in¬ 
tellectual  grasp  of  religious  truth,  and  by  way  of  develop¬ 
ing  in  its  pupils  religious  ideals  and  habits  of  righteous 
conduct,  the  church  school  will  continue  to  be  deplorably 
inefficient.  The  workman  who  pays  no  attention  to  the 
product  of  his  labor  will  make  no  progress  in  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  skill. 

One  of  the  greatest  benefits  of  a  church  council  of  re¬ 
ligious  education  lies  in  the  fact  that  a  functioning  organi¬ 
zation  of  this  kind  usually  checks  up  the  work  of  the 
church  school  at  certain  stated  intervals.  It  sets  up 
goals  for  the  church  school  and  keeps  them  in  view.  It 
measures  from  time  to  time  the  progress  which  the  church 
school  is  making  toward  the  attainment  of  the  goals 
which  have  been  set  up  as  the  chosen  objectives  of  the 
school.  It  is  a  good  thing  for  the  church  school  to  face 
once  in  a  while  some  of  the  questions  which  are  to  be  taken 
up  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

1.  Is  the  constituency  of  the  church  school  being 
reached?  Let  us  suppose  that  the  council  of  religious 
education  for  an  individual  church  school  has  met  at 
about  Christmas  time.  The  church  school  has  been  in  full 
operation  for  nearly  three  months.  In  the  latter  part  of 
September  a  survey  of  the  church-school  constituency 
was  made.  The  name,  address,  and  age  of  every  person 
who  could  be  rightfully  claimed  as  belonging  to  the  con- 


CHECKING  UP  THE  RESULTS 


219 


stituency  of  the  church  school  was  secured.  These  names 
were  classified,  lists  of  prospective  pupils  being  given  to 
each  department.  Departmental  leaders  were  directed 
to  put  in  operation  such  movements  as  they  deemed  wise 
for  the  winning  of  those  who  ought  to  become  pupils  of 
the  church  school.  Now  the  council  has  met  to  check  up 
on  the  results  of  these  efforts. 

The  director  of  religious  education  has  been  in  touch 
with  the  various  efforts  being  made  for  the  increase  of 
the  church-school  enrollment.  He  is  now  ready  with  a 
report  which  shows  the  accomplishments  of  the  various 
departments.  He  has  constructed  graphic  charts  which 
help  to  make  the  results  plain  to  all.  There  is  enthusiasm 
in  the  meeting,  for  the  church  school  is  flourishing.  The 
director  points  out  the  large  success  of  certain  depart¬ 
ments  and  explains  the  methods  employed  to  secure  these 
results.  Departmental  leaders  exchange  ideas.  Certain 
families  have  proved  to  be  particularly  unresponsive  to 
the  approaches  of  the  church-school  representatives. 
These  cases  are  discussed  and  all  the  available  informa¬ 
tion  concerning  these  families  collected.  Plans  are  laid 
for  the  completion  of  the  task  of  enrolling  the  full  con¬ 
stituency  of  the  church  school.  Matters  have  been 
checked  up.  The  school  knows  how  it  is  getting  along 
in  so  far  as  reaching  its  constituency  is  concerned. 
Leaders  have  gained  new  skill  in  their  task  of  reaching 
those  who  ought  to  be  enrolled  in  the  school  of  the  church. 

2.  Is  the  teaching  academically  effective?  The 
same  council  has  met  some  two  or  three  months  after  the 
meeting  which  we  have  described  in  the  preceding  para¬ 
graphs.  The  director  has  been  centering  the  efforts  of 
his  departmental  superintendents  and  teachers  not  so 
much  on  the  matter  of  new  enrollments  for  the  school  as 
on  raising  the  teaching  to  a  high  standard.  The  church 
school  is  striving  to  attain  an  efficiency  in  teaching  which 


220 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


will  put  it  in  the  same  class  as  the  public  schools.  The 
director  has  had  many  meetings  with  superintendents  and 
teachers,  and  general  principles  have  been  discussed.  He 
has  visited  classes,  observed  the  teachers  at  work,  and 
has  had  personal  conferences  with  individual  teachers, 
pointing  out  more  efficient  ways  of  conducting  recitations 
and  commending  them  for  points  of  excellence  in  their 
work. 

There  has  been  a  general  review  of  the  curriculum 
material  for  the  year,  and  mid-year  examinations  in  all 
departments  have  been  given.  The  director  has  analyzed 
and  tabulated  the  results.  He  has  examination  papers 
on  exhibition  showing  what  pupils  have  accomplished  by 
way  of  mastering  the  Biblical  material  assigned  to  each 
department.  Perhaps  some  class  from  the  school  has 
been  invited  to  the  meeting,  and  the  members  now  repeat 
some  of  the  memory  work  for  the  period  under  review  or 
answer  questions  on  the  curriculum  material  asked  by 
various  members  of  the  council.  The  church  school  has 
proposed  to  teach  its  pupils  certain  things.  In  this 
meeting  the  governing  body  of  the  school  is  checking  up 
results,  in  so  far  as  the  giving  of  religious  information  is 
concerned. 

The  meeting  gives  an  opportunity  for  the  consideration 
of  the  curriculum  material  and  for  the  exchange  of  ideas 
concerning  methods  of  teaching.  If  the  returns  of 
certain  departments  show  that  the  pupils  enrolled  have 
not  mastered  the  curriculum  materials  assigned,  arrange¬ 
ments  are  made  for  a  thorough  review,  in  order  that  the 
pupils  may  not  move  forward  to  new  phases  of  the  curric¬ 
ulum  leaving  unmastered  material  behind  them.  Some 
pupils  have  shown  that  they  are  unable  to  do  the  work 
in  the  department  where  they  are  enrolled  and  their 
transfer  to  some  other  department  is  provided  for.  Other 
pupils  have  shown  that  they  can  advance  more  rapidly 


CHECKING  UP  THE  RESULTS 


221 


than  the  general  membership  of  their  department  and  they 
are  forthwith  promoted  to  some  class  where  they  can  get 
the  largest  possible  good  from  the  church-school  system. 

3.  Is  the  church-school  program  producing 
spiritual  results?  The  church  school  is  nearing  its 
close  and  the  council  has  met  to  consider  whether  the 
program  which  the  school  has  been  carrying  on  for  the 
past  months  is  attaining  the  great  objective,  namely, 
the  bringing  of  the  church-school  pupils  into  a  spiritual 
relationship  with  Jesus  Christ  which  manifests  itself  in 
their  lives  and  in  their  conduct.  How  many  of  the  church- 
school  pupils  have  united  with  the  Church  ?  How  many  are 
now  in  the  pastor’s  communicants’  class  ?  How  many  have 
signed  cards  expressing  their  desire  to  live  as  Christians? 
These  and  similar  questions  are  taken  up.  The  director 
has  definite  statistics  as  to  all  these  important  matters. 
During  the  latter  part  of  the  church-school  year  he  has 
been  leading  his  superintendents  and  teachers  in  an 
earnest  and  persistent  effort  to  bring  every  pupil  in  the 
school  to  a  deeper  acquaintance  with  the  Saviour.  It 
has  been  the  goal  of  the  school  to  win  for  Christ  and  the 
Church  every  pupil  who  is  twelve  years  of  age,  or  older. 

A  Decision  Day  has  been  carefully  and  prayerfully 
planned.  The  matter  of  a  life  decision  for  the  Christian 
religion  has  been  presented  earnestly,  in  the  depart¬ 
mental  meetings  by  the  superintendents,  and  in  the 
various  classes  by  the  teachers.  All  the  pupils  who  have 
expressed  a  desire  to  live  as  Christians  have  been  en¬ 
couraged  to  join  a  class  taught  by  the  pastor  and  looking 
toward  Church  membership.  In  this  class  the  pastor 
has  seized  this  opportunity  of  supreme  importance.  He 
has  made  diligent  preparation  for  meeting  these  young 
people,  as  conscientious  preparation  as  he  gives  to  the 
preparation  of  his  sermons  which  are  to  be  delivered  on 
occasions  of  unusual  importance. 


222 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


Other  results  besides  additions  to  the  Church  are 
checked  up.  How  about  the  expressional  work  in  the 
various  departments?  How  many  pupils  will  take  part 
in  public  discussion  of  topics?  How  many  will  lead  the 
meetings?  How  many  will  lead  in  public  prayer?  What 
work  of  a  missionary  nature  is  being  accomplished?  Do 
the  pupils  seem  to  be  taking  an  increased  interest  in 
altruistic  undertakings?  Do  pupils  conduct  themselves 
in  accordance  with  the  Golden  Rule  when  they  are  in  the 
church  school,  in  the  home,  and  at  play  with  one  another? 
What  do  parents  say  regarding  the  church  school  as  an 
agency  for  securing  right  conduct  on  the  part  of  their 
children?  Do  the  public-school  teachers  find  church- 
school  pupils  more  orderly,  obedient,  and  kind  than  is 
the  case  with  children  who  are  not  enrolled  in  any  church 
school?  These  and  many  other  questions  have  been 
investigated  by  the  director  and  he  has  evidence  to  show 
what  is  being  done  in  these  matters  of  such  spiritual 
importance.  The  council  is  brought  face  to  face  with 
facts.  It  is  shown  wherein  its  program  of  education  for 
the  church  is  succeeding  and  to  what  extent  it  is  succeed¬ 
ing.  It  is  also  shown  wherein  this  program  is  failing  and 
to  what  extent  it  is  failing.  A  basis  is  thus  laid  for  wise 
plans  and  efficient  activity  for  the  future,  a  basis  which 
is  wholly  necessary  for  any  larger  success  and  which  can 
be  laid  in  no  other  way. 

4.  All  phases  of  the  educational  task  to  be  checked 

up.  What  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  has 
to  do  chiefly  with  what  we  have  called  the  central  program 
of  the  church  school.  The  church  council  has  the  over^ 
sight  of  the  entire  educational  program  of  the  individual 
church,  however,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  this  body  to  check 
up  the  results  attained  in  all  phases  of  the  task.  It  re¬ 
ceives  through  the  director  reports  concerning  the  leader¬ 
ship  training  program  of  the  church.  It  knows  how  many 


CHECKING  UP  THE  RESULTS 


223 


teachers  of  the  church  school  are  pursuing  courses  which 
will  fit  them  for  larger  and  better  service.  It  knows  how 
many  prospective  teachers  are  enrolled  in  the  courses  of 
its  training  school.  It  keeps  itself  informed  as  to  courses 
of  study  which  are  pursued  in  the  training  classes.  It 
finds  out  about  individual  pupils  in  its  normal  classes, 
and  notes  the  evidences  of  their  increasing  skill  to  teach 
and  control  the  various  classes  of  the  school  to  which 
they  are  assigned  for  substitute  teaching. 

The  council  keeps  in  touch  with  the  program  of  co¬ 
operation  which  the  church  school  carries  on  with  the 
homes  of  its  constituency.  It  notes  whether  the  Cradle 
Roll  activities  and  the  Home  Department  activities  are 
drawing  church  and  home  more  closely  together.  It 
knows  how  many  families  in  the  constituency  of  the  church 
have  family  worship,  and  whether  this  number  has  been 
increased,  or  not,  by  the  church-school  activities  of  the 
year.  It  checks  up  the  results  of  the  parents’  classes, 
inquiring  as  to  number  of  parents  enrolled  and  their 
general  opinion  concerning  the  helpfulness  of  the  class 
discussion.  It  undertakes  to  evaluate  the  parent-teacher 
association  program  and  decides  whether  the  church- 
school  teachers  and  the  parents  of  the  church-school 
pupils  are  being  brought  into  closer  fellowship  through 
the  activities  of  this  organization. 

The  council  makes  inquiry  as  to  the  relationships  ex¬ 
isting  between  the  church  school  which  it  represents  and 
other  religious  educational  agencies.  It  seeks  to  find  out 
whether  the  church  school  is  doing  its  share  for  the  pro¬ 
motion  of  religious  education  in  the  denomination  to 
which  the  church  school  belongs  and  likewise  whether  it 
is  doing  its  share  toward  supporting  necessary  and  helpful 
interdenominational  agencies. 

Every  council  of  religious  education  which  has  had  the 
oversight  of  an  individual  church  school  for  a  year  or 


224 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


more  and  has  had  the  executive  assistance  of  a  director 
of  religious  education  should  be  able  to  give  satisfactory 
information  concerning  the  influence  of  the  church  school 
which  they  represent  over  the  community  in  which  the 
church  school  carries  on  its  task.  Church  schools  exist 
not  only  to  help  individuals  onward  to  a  higher  life,  but 
also  to  help  whole  communities  in  a  similar  manner.  The 
council  should  be  able  to  give  reliable  information  as  to 
whether  the  church  school  has  curbed  undesirable  and 
commercialized  amusements,  as  to  whether  such  matters 
as  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  are  being  conserved  and 
as  to  whether  a  community  spirit  of  fellowship  and  help¬ 
fulness  is  being  developed. 

5.  Bringing  the  educational  program  up  to  an 
adopted  standard.  In  the  next  chapter  of  this  book  a 
thousand-point  educational  standard  for  an  individual 
church  school  is  presented.  It  is  offered  as  a  suggestion 
concerning  the  goals  for  which  every  church  school  ought 
to  strive.  One  of  the  first  tasks  of  a  church  council  of 
religious  education  ought  to  be  the  construction  of  some 
such  standard  as  that  which  we  are  to  consider  in  the  next 
chapter.  It  need  not  be  this  particular  standard,  indeed, 
the  standard  will  be  more  valuable  if  it  is  produced  largely 
by  conferences  in  the  council  than  it  will  be  if  it  is  taken 
over  ready-made  from  the  suggestions  made  in  this  book. 
Churches  which  have  constructed  educational  standards 
really  worth  while  have  followed  certain  principles  and  it 
is  well  for  the  council  which  is  considering  the  formulation 
of  a  church-school  standard  to  keep  these  principles  in 
view. 

The  standard  should  express  the  council's  conceptions 
of  what  the  church  school  ought  to  be  in  its  equipment, 
curriculum,  teaching  force,  organization,  administration, 
supervision,  and  in  its  relationships  to  the  home,  the 
public  schools,  and  the  community.  The  creation  of  a 


CHECKING  UP  THE  RESULTS 


225 


standard  should  be  the  setting  up  of  ideas.  That  which 
is  evidently  needed  for  a  full  efficiency  of  the  school 
should  find  a  place  in  the  standard  whether  it  seems 
possible  of  present  attainment  or  not.  It  is  a  good  thing 
for  a  council  to  set  up  a  standard  which  must  be  striven 
for  through  many  years.  Low  and  easy  standards  for 
the  church  school  cheapen  one  of  the  most  sublime  of  all 
the  tasks  which  God  has  given  to  men,  namely,  the  task 
of  nurturing  young  lives  in  the  deep  things  of  the  spirit. 

The  standard  should  be  kept  constantly  before  the 
church  school  so  that  pupils  and  teachers  may  understand 
its  suggested  goals  and  strive  for  their  attainment.  From 
time  to  time  special  emphasis  may  be  laid  upon  the 
attainment  of  different  provisions  of  the  standard.  The 
opening  of  the  church-school  year  is  a  good  time  to  under¬ 
take  the  bringing  of  the  church  school  up  to  standard  in 
matters  of  enrollment.  Towards  the  close  of  the  church- 
school  year  it  is  well  to  give  special  attention  to  the 
attainment  of  the  spiritual  goals  which  the  standard  sets 
forth. 

The  standard  need  not  be  an  unchangeable  statement 
of  the  educational  goals  which  the  church  school  has  in 
view.  It  ought  to  be  subject  to  revision  and  amendment 
as  the  church-school  leaders  learn  of  better  objectives 
and  better  plans  of  attaining  them.  Care  should  be  ex¬ 
ercised  lest  the  attainment  of  the  standard  become  an 
end  in  itself.  Sunday  schools  have  sometimes  fallen  into 
this  fault  in  their  efforts  to  become  standard  schools. 
They  have  for  example  organized  a  Home  Department  with 
a  few  members  and  have  carried  it  on  in  a  careless  way  in  order 
that  they  might  claim  this  item  of  the  standard.  Church- 
school  leaders  ought  to  remember  that  the  standard  is 
only  a  means  to  an  end  and  that  this  end  is  an  efficient, 
well-organized,  and  adequate  educational  system  which 
will  reach  the  entire  constituency  of  the  church  school. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

A  Thousand- Point  Standard  for 
Church  School  Which  Carries 
on  a  Unified  Educational 
Program  for  an  Indi¬ 
vidual  Church 


■- 


' 


.  I 


CHAPTER  XVI 


A  Thousand-Point  Standard  For  a  Church  School  Which 
Carries  on  a  Unified  Educational  Program 
For  an  Individual  Church 

I.  Organization.  (100  Points.) 

1 .  Church  school  organized  to  carry  on  a  central  program  of 
information,  worship,  and  expression;  a  program  of  leadership 
training;  and  a  program  of  cooperation  with  the  home .  .  .  .25  points. 

2.  Departments  separately  and  fully  organized  with  superinten¬ 

dent,  assistant  superintendent,  secretary,  teaching  force,  and  other 
officers.  (Ten  departments  as  named  on  page  76) . 30  points. 

3.  Student  departmental  organizations  in  Junior,  Intermediate, 

Senior,  Young  People’s,  and  Adult  Departments,  with  president, 
vice  president,  secretary,  and  other  officers . 20  points. 

4.  Boys’  clubs  and  girls’  clubs  in  the  Junior,  and  Intermediate 

Departments,  as  sections  of  these  departments . 15  points. 

5.  All  classes  in  the  Senior,  Young  People’s  and  the  Adult 
Departments  organized,  as  sections-of  these  departments  10  sections 


Total  for  Organization . . . 100  points. 

II.  Administration  and  Supervision.  (100  points.) 

1.  A  church  council  of  religious  education  composed  of  representa¬ 

tives  from  the  governing  board  of  the  church,  from  the  student 
body,  and  from  the  working  force  of  every  agency  of  the  church 
which  carries  on  educational  work . 25  points. 

2.  A  director  of  religious  education.  (If  volunteer  service  5 

points;  part-time  paid  service,  15  points;  full-time  paid  service 

25  points) . 25  points. 

3.  Efficient  supervision.  Superintendent,  or  director,  visits 

classes,  observes  the  work  of  teachers,  gives  personal  advice,  holds 
teachers’  meetings  for  general  discussions . 20  points. 

4.  Adequate  and  permanent  records.  Information  gathered  con¬ 

cerning  the  name,  address,  parents’  occupation,  parents’  nationality, 
age,  grade  in  school,  attendance,  punctuality,  Church  relationship, 
and  promotion  of  all  pupils;  this  information  preserved  in  per¬ 
manent  form . 10  points. 

5.  Administration  maintains  hearty  cooperation  with  denomina¬ 
tional  and  interdenominational  educational  agencies.  Financial 
support  given  to  the  educational  board  of  the  denomination  and  to 
such  interdenominational  agencies  as  the  Sunday  School  Associa¬ 
tions.  Information  concerning  the  educational  work  of  the  denom- 

229 


230 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


ination  and  concerning  such  organizations  as  Sunday  School  Asso¬ 
ciation  made  a  part  of  the  informational  program  of  the  school 

....  20  points. 


Total  for  Administration  and  Supervision . 100  points. 

III.  Curriculum.  (100  points.) 

1.  Graded  Lesson  Materials.  (Either  closely  graded  or  depart- 
mentally  graded.) . 20  points. 


2.  A  curriculum  which  is  pedagogically  complete,  that  is,  which 

emphasizes  information,  training  in  worship,  and  expressional 
activities  as  essential  to  the  educative  process.  If  these  phases 
of  the  educative  process  are  present  but  not  correlated  into  a  uni¬ 
fied  system,  credit  to  be  as  follows:  information,  4  points;  worship, 
4  points;  expression,  4  points.  If  the  three  phases  are  correlated 
in  a  central  program  for  the  departments  from  the  Primary  to  the 
Senior,  a  total  of  25  points . 25  points. 

3.  A  curriculum  which  is  complete  as  to  subject  matter.  Essen¬ 
tial  elements  to  be  credited  as  follows : 

(a)  Course  fundamentally  Biblical.  (11  points.) 

( b )  Missionary  instruction.  (2  points.) 

(c)  Study  of  great  hymns.  (2  points.) 

(d)  Temperance  instruction.  (2  points.) 

(e)  Stewardship  instruction.  (2  points.) 

(/)  Church  history.  (2  points.) 

({7)  Vocational  guidance.  (2  points.) 

(h)  Personal  work.  (2  points.) 

Total  points  for  a  curriculum  complete  as  to  subject 
matter . 25  points. 

4.  Lesson  materials  for  pupils  with  maps,  illustrations,  and  attrac¬ 
tive  appearance . 15  points. 

5.  Teachers’  helps  with  suggestions  concerning  the  lesson  goals 
and  concerning  methods  of  teaching  particular  lessons. .  .  .15  points' 


Total  for  Curriculum . 100  points. 

IV.  The  Teaching  Force.  (100  points.) 

1.  A  teaching  force  adequate  as  to  numbers  (the  term  “teach¬ 

ing  force”  as  here  used  includes  the  instructors  in  the  leadership 
training  program,  the  various  departmental  superintendents  the 
supervisors  of  the  expressional  organizations  and  the  visitors  for 
the  home  work,  as  well  as  the  teachers  of  the  Sunday  session  and 
the  week-day  session  of  the  church  school) . 10  points. 

2.  A  consecrated  teaching  force;  this  consecration  shown  by 
regular  and  prompt  attendance  at  classes,  carefully  prepared  les¬ 
sons,  and  earnest  efforts  to  secure  the  spiritual  growth  of  pupils 

....  25  points. 


THOUSAND-POINT  STANDARD  FOR  CHURCH  231 


3.  A  trained  teaching  force;  at  least  one  year’s  training  for  all 

Sunday-school  teachers  and  visitors  in  the  home-work  program; 
three  years’  training  for  all  departmental  superintendents  and  week¬ 
day  session  teachers.  These  same  requirements,  with  additional  work 
in  religious  education,  for  all  instructors  in  the  leadership  training 
school . 15  points. 

4.  An  experienced  teaching  force;  all  teachers,  superintendents, 

visitors,  and  instructors  with  at  least  one  year’s  teaching  experience 
before  being  given  full  responsibility  for  a  definite  part  of  the  teach¬ 
ing  task  of  the  church . 10  points. 

5.  Paid  teachers  for  the  week-day  classes  (may  be  part-time 

employees' of  the  school) . 20  points. 

6.  An  organized  teaching  force;  teachers  meet  for  conference 
and  for  their  growth  in  educational  proficiency  through  systematic 
study  of  the  Bible,  pedagogy,  and  educational  psychology .  io  points. 

7.  A  corps  of  substitute  teachers;  the  primary  object  of  this 

body  to  be  the  preparation  of  teachers  for  the  school  through  the 
securing  of  teaching  experience  in  classes  from  which  the  regular 
teacher  is  absent . 10  points. 


Total  for  the  Teaching  Force . 100  points. 

V.  Housing,  Equipment,  and  General  Financial  Support. 

(100  points.)  ' 

1.  The  church-school  building . 40  points. 

(a)  Near  center  of  population  which  makes  up  church-school  con¬ 
stituency,  away  from  car  lines  if  possible . (8  points.) 

( b )  Light,  heat,  and  sanitation;  no  artificial  light  needed  in  day¬ 
time,  good  lighting  system  for  night;  satisfactory  heating  plant, 
such  as  steam,  hot-air,  or  hot-water  system;  sanitary  conditions 
as  regards  toilets,  ventilation,  and  cleanliness.  (8  points.) 

(c)  Departmental  assembly  rooms;  separate  rooms  for  the 
assembling  of  all  departments  from  the  Beginners  to  the  Adult 
Department.  (10  points.) 

(d)  Separate  classrooms  for  all  classes  from  Primary  to  Adult 
Department;  no  movable  partitions.  (8  points.) 

(e)  Gymnasium  and  club  rooms.  (8  points.) 

2.  Equipment . 20  points. 

(а)  Chairs  and  tables,  or  desks  for  all  pupils.  (8  points.) 

(б)  Maps,  charts,  pictures,  sand  tables,  objects  from  mission 
lands,  etc.  (4  points.) 

(c)  Teachers’  professional  library.  (3  points.) 

(d)  Stereopticon  or  moving-picture  machine.  (3  points.) 

3.  General  financial  support . 40  points. 

(а)  Church  school  supported  out  of  general  budget  of  the  church. 
(15  points.) 

(б)  Offerings  of  pupils  used  for  benevolent  purposes  and  church 
budget  and  made  part  of  the  expressional  program.  (10  points.) 


232 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


(c)  Financial  support  generous  enough  to  enable  the  school  to 
employ  trained  and  experienced  teachers  for  the  week-day  sessions, 
a  paid  director  of  religious  education,  and  to  supply  such  equip¬ 
ment  and  such  lesson  materials  as  are  necessary.  (15  points.) 

Total  for  Housing,  Equipment,  and  General  Financial 
Support . 100  points. 

VI.  Right  Relationships  with  the  Church-School  Constit¬ 
uency.  (100  points.) 

1.  An  annual  survey  which  reveals  the  constituency  of  the  church 

school,  names,  ages,  addresses,  church  connection,  etc . 18  points. 

2.  Enrollment  by  the  end  of  the  church  school  of  at  least  90  per 
cent  of  the  church-school  constituency  as  revealed  by  the  survey 

...  .21  points. 

3.  Attendance  equal  to  ninety  per  cent  of  the  possible  attendance 

revealed  by  the  enrollment . 20  points. 

4.  Punctuality;  up  to  the  average  of  the  public  schools  of  the 

community . 7  points. 

5.  Loyalty;  loyalty  to  classes  and  teachers  passing  on  into  loyalty 

to  the  church  school,  the  individual  church,  the  Church  universal, 
and  to  Jesus  Christ  as  Lord  of  life;  no  loyalty  that  is  divided  be¬ 
cause  of  outside  allegiances . 12  points. 

6.  Orderly  conduct;  the  conduct  of  pupils  up  to  the  best  public- 
school  standards  as  regards  courtesy,  quiet,  attention,  and  interest 

...  .22  points. 


Total  for  Right  Relationships . 100  points. 

VII.  The  Central  Program  of  Information,  Worship,  and  Ex¬ 
pression.  (100  points.) 

1.  The  week-day  session . 25  points. 


(a)  Week-day  classes  for  pupils  of  Primary,  Junior,  Intermediate, 
and  Senior  Departments.  (3  points.) 

(6)  Class  meets  for  at  least  one  hour  each  week.  (3  points.) 

(c)  Public-school  time  for  class.  (4  points.) 

(d)  Public-school  credit  in  Senior  Department.  (2  points.) 

(e)  Week-day  instruction  correlated  with  Sunday  school  and 
expressional  organizations.  (6  points.) 

(/)  Major  emphasis  on  information.  (1  point.) 

(g)  One  hundred  per  cent  of  the  Sunday-school  pupils  enrolled 
in  the  week-day  classes.  (6  points.) 

2.  The  Sunday  session . 25  points. 

(g)  At  least  sixty  minutes  of  educational  work.  (3  points.) 

( b )  Training  in  worship  through  religious  services  in  the  de¬ 
partments  and  in  the  classes.  (15  points.) 

(c)  Sunday-school  work  correlated  with  the  week-day  work  and 
the  expressional  work  in  the  Primary,  Junior,  Intermediate,  and 
Senior  Departments.  (7  points.) 


THOUSAND-POINT  STANDARD  FOR  CHURCH  233 


3.  The  expressional  session . 25  points. 

(а)  Sessions  of  at  least  one  hour  a  week,  in  which  opportunity  is 
given  to  pupils  to  take  part  in  the  meeting,  and  to  plan  for  service 
activities  in  which  the  truths  studied  are  given  expression.  (10  points.) 

(б)  Club  sessions  of  at  least  one  hour  a  week,  with  program  of  rec¬ 
reational  activities  as  an  integral  part  of  the  central  program  of  the 
school.  (9  points.) 

(c)  One  hundred  per  cent  of  Sunday-school  pupils  enrolled  in 
expressional  session.  (6  points.) 

4.  The  vacation  session . '. . 25  points. 

(a)  At  least  twenty  teaching  days  of  two  and  one-half  hours 
each.  (5  points.) 

(b)  Program  which  supplements  the  regular  church-school 
program.  (3  points.) 

(c)  Enrolls  at  least  seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  pupils  in  the 
Primary,  Junior,  and  Intermediate  Departments  of  the  church 
school.  (4  points.) 

(d)  Handwork  used  to  illustrate  Biblical  material.  (4  points.) 

(e)  A  vacation  camp  of  at  least  one  week,  and  enrolling  at  least  75 
per  cent  of  the  Intermediate  and  Senior  Departments.  (9  points.) 


Total  for  the  Central  Program . 100  points. 

VIII.  The  Program  of  Co  peration  with  the  Home.  (100 
points.) 

1 .  Pastoral  work . 25  points. 

(a)  Family  religion  emphasized  in  preaching.  (5  points.) 


(b)  Family  religion  emphasized  in  pastoral  visitation.  (6  points.) 

(c)  Instruction  for  contracting  parties  at  marriages.  (4  points.) 

(d)  Instruction  of  parents  at  the  baptism  of  children.  (5  points.) 

(e)  Efforts  to  cultivate  religion  in  the  home  when  children  of  the 
family  make  a  decision  for  Christ.  (5  points.) 

2.  The  Home  Department . 25  points. 

(а)  Parents  and  others  who  belong  to  the  church-school  constit¬ 
uency  but  who  for  any  reason  cannot  attend,  enrolled  for  Bible 
study.  (12  points.) 

(б)  Visitors  encourage  family  prayers  and  other  religious 
observances  in  the  home.  (13  points.) 

3.  The  Cradle  Roll . 25  points. 

(а)  Names  of  all  babies  of  the  church-school  constituency  se¬ 
cured  for  the  Cradle  Roll.  (10  points.) 

(б)  Birthday  cards  and  other  gifts  sent  to  babies.  (3  points.) 

(c)  Visitors  give  parents  counsel  in  the  problems  pertaining  to 


the  early  life  of  the  child.  (12  points.) 

4.  Parents’  classes  or  mothers’  class . 15  points. 

5.  Parent-teacher  association . 10  points. 


Total  for  the  Program  in  the  Home . 100  points. 


234 


A  PARISH  PROGRAM  OF  EDUCATION 


IX.  The  Program  of  Leadership  Training.  (100  points.) 

1.  A  school  for  present  teachers . 25  points. 

2.  A  school  for  prospective  teachers . 25  points. 

3.  A  three-year  course  made  available . 20  points. 

4.  Provisions  for  practice  teaching . 20  points. 

5.  Church  cooperates  with  interdenominational  training  agencies, 

such  as  the  Sunday  School  Association  program  of  teacher-training 
and  the  community  training  school  if  one  exists . 10  points. 


Total  for  Leadership  Training . 100  points. 


X.  Definite  Spiritual  Results.  (100  points.) 

1.  A  program  of  educational  evangelism  with  definite  appeals 
for  a  decision  for  the  Christian  life  resulting  in  open  confession  of 
Christ  by  all  pupils  of  the  Intermediate  Department  and  beyond 

....  50  points. 

2.  All  pupils  of  the  Intermediate  Department  and  beyond  brought 

into  Church  membership,  through  a  definite  preparatory  course 
of  instruction  led  by  the  pastor . 15  points. 

3.  Family  worship  established  in  all  homes  where  one  or  both 

parents  are  members  of  the  Church . 10  points. 

4.  The  whole  constituency  of  the  school  tithers,  or  proportion¬ 
ate  givers . 10  points. 

5.  Spiritual  fruits  of  the  church  school  seen  in  an  increased 

interest  in  missions,  world-wide  philanthropy,  and  community 
betterment . 15  points. 


100  points. 


Total  for  Spiritual  Results 
Grand  Total . 


1000  points. 


Date  Due 


4/  j 


